ANGEL Heart of Stone
by Mirany Hunter
Summary: Angel and his team have stumbled across another Slayer, but this one has a bigger problem than commitment issues. Can Angel help her out before she loses herself completely?
1. Heart of Stone

Mirany slid underneath the car, reaching back out to pull her toolbox down beside her, rummaging through it for a spanner.

"Latest killer news?" she grunted, fiddling with the car.

"The police found out that the vics were getting killed by stakes to the heart," said Josh, grinning as he watched her from his position on his stomach. "Very vampirey. And they also discovered that each of the vics wanders through graveyards at night. Someone is out there, thinking that they are literally killing vampires."

Josh's short orange hair was gelled up in a tiny moe-hawk and his light brown eyes were gleaming with amusement. The idea that someone believed in vampires seemed to be very funny to him. His long, gangly body stretched from underneath another car right up to the car that Mirany was working on.

"How many does this make?" asked David, tossing Josh a screw-driver and gesturing towards another garage, where their boss was working on a car. Josh got the message and started working on his car.

"Ten over the past three weeks," said Mirany. "Well, that's what it was a couple of days ago."

Mirany emerged from underneath the car and got to her feet, brushing herself down. Her long brown hair was tied back in a messy ponytail but her fringe hung in her muddy brown eyes. She was tall for a seventeen year old and had a very fiery personality. Every now and then, her voice would get a bit of an English twang to it. She had moved to America when she was ten.

"Do they have any suspects?" she asked.

"Not that I know of," said David.

"Although they say that the murderer is likely to be female and slightly mad," said Josh. "So Mirany, is there something you'd like to tell us?"

Mirany scowled.

"I know you don't want to hear this but, he's right. You would be a fairly good candidate," said David thoughtfully.

Mirany turned to the boy. His light green eyes were magnified behind rectangular glasses, and his blonde hair was brushed smoothly to the side.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yes," said David, apparently unaware that this statement could cost him his life. "You're very much a night-time girl. You're strong, athletic. You're interested in the supernatural, and you look pretty harmless, thereby lulling victims in a false sense of security."

"Sorry to disappoint Dave but, I'm not the 'Vampire Slayer' as I'm sure Josh would love to put it. Keep on guessing. I'M HEADING OFF MIKE!"

Mirany's boss waved to show that he had heard her and Mirany grinned at Josh and David.

"If there will be no more questions, I have vampires to stab," she said sarcastically as she climbed onto her Harley. "See you next week."

Mirany kicked the bike into life and drove out of the garage.

...

Mirany sat down, bottle of beer in her hand, and stared at the sheets of paper that were spread across her coffee table. Pictures of the victims - her victims - newspaper articles, even pictures of the crime scenes littered the surface.

She picked up a picture of the latest boy and sighed. He had been seventeen when the stake had been driven into his heart. According to a newspaper article, he would have turned eighteen in a week. He had been out celebrating when he had been separated from the others. Stumbling through the graveyard, he had run into the wrong girl.

"Well, I like the place," said a voice from the front door. "It's a little big for my tastes, but it still has a nice bat-cave sort of a feel to it."

Mirany whipped around. A man stood in the doorway. He had dark brown hair which was spiked up messily, his eyes were black and he was very tall and looked extremely muscular.

"Who are you?" she grunted.

"Well, I haven't come in yet, so I'd say that I was a vampire," said the man. "But don't worry. I don't bite."

Mirany scooped up a cross bow, aiming the bolt straight at the vampire's heart.

"Come in," she said, in a voice that clearly told the vampire 'one wrong move and you'll have an arrow through your heart.'

The vampire didn't seem discouraged by that and entered the mansion.

"Working in a garage pays this well?" he asked. "Maybe I should switch professions."

"Who are you, and what the hell are you doing here?" asked Mirany.

"You've got a one track mind, did you know that?" asked the vampire.

Mirany slammed him against the wall, holding him a foot off the ground by his neck, the cross-bow bolt pressed against his chest, right above his heart.

"Maybe you haven't noticed, but I'm not in the mood for games. Answer the questions," she snapped.

"Put me down Mirany. I'm not here to fight you. I could overpower you of course, but still, you are the Slayer and I don't want to get bruised."

Mirany stared at him.

"What the hell are you on about?" she asked.

The vampire looked at her expectantly and Mirany let go of his throat reluctantly.

"Thank you," said the vampire. "Sit down."

Mirany didn't move.

"Sit down," repeated the vampire calmly, but there was a threat in his voice.

Mirany could tell that this was one vampire that she wasn't about to intimidate and sat down. The vampire stayed on his feet.

"My name is Angel," said the vampire. "I've heard a lot about what you've been doing lately."

"What is it exactly that you think I've been doing?" asked Mirany testily.

Angel picked up a few of the papers on her coffee table.

"Well either you've been investigating these murders...or you committed them."

Mirany's jaw set.

"Committed them," said Angel. "I just had to make sure."

"I didn't say anything," said Mirany indignantly.

"What happened Mirany? They try to take you home with them?"

Mirany got to her feet angrily.

"Get out," she snapped. "Now."

Angel looked at her, amused.

"Make me."

Mirany smirked.

"You should not have said that," she said.

Mirany swung her fist at Angel's head and he ducked, slamming his palm into her solar plexus. Mirany groaned, doubling over. Angel grabbed her in a strangle hold with one arm and twisted her right arm behind her with his other. Mirany struggled slightly but Angel pushed tighter on her wind pipe. She froze.

"I'm stronger and faster than you Mirany. I will use that to my advantage."

"Bite me," snapped Mirany.

"Calm down Mirany."

She kicked him hard in the shins and Angel grinned.

"I was so hoping you'd do that."

Angel threw Mirany hard against the wall and she collapsed.

...

Mirany groaned as she woke up. Her head was throbbing where she had been hit and there were heavy manacles around her wrists. Mirany caught sight of Angel sitting nearby and glared at him.

"What did you hit me with?" she asked.

"A mansion," said Angel shortly. "Sorry about the chains. It's not that I don't trust you it's...actually, it is that I don't trust you."

"Whatever. Just let me out of the chains," Mirany snapped.

"No," said Angel.

"Look, I was chained up last week, so I really don't need a repetition. Unlock the chains."

"Actually, I knocked you out last week. You've been asleep nearly five days."

Mirany scowled.

"Great," she muttered. "That's just what I need. If I get fired I'm going to murder you."

"Why? It's not like you need the money. You're a billionaire Mirany. Your parents died and left you everything. The money, the mansion, the cars, the bikes. Why are you working? You've got everything you need. What else could you possibly want?"

"You can't buy true friends," said Mirany shortly.

"A car yard?" asked Angel disbelievingly.

"I like it there! And I'm good with cars. And bikes. I guess I like things with wheels. Always have actually. And the guys there are fun. Look, just because I'm a girl doesn't mean I can't like cars. I'm a great mechanic."

"And a murderer," Angel added.

Mirany sighed.

"And a murderer," she agreed.

"A drunk murderer I might add," said Angel. "Why did you do it Mirany?"

"What? Drink? Maybe to lift my very low spirits. But don't worry. I don't do drugs as well. I don't like lethal cocktails."

"You know what I mean."

Mirany paused, searching for an explanation.

"I'm the Slayer. I see someone in a graveyard at night, my instincts take over. I immediately think 'vampire'. I can't tell what's what until it's too late."

"Three weeks in a row Mirany. You've killed ten people. You need help. You know that right?"

Mirany glared at him.

Angel sighed.

"I'll be back soon," he said, leaving the room.

"Don't feel you have to hurry because of me. Take your time," Mirany called after him.

Angel ignored her and shook his head as he entered the lobby. Wesley and Connor looked up.

"How're you goin'?" asked Connor.

"It's like talking to a brick wall," said Angel. "Only you get more from a wall."

"I can have a go," said Connor, almost eagerly.

"You wish," said Angel. "I'm not trying to raise her body count."

"Hey, I can hit on people from the other side of a room," said Connor, pouting slightly.

Angel ignored him. Connor was slightly older than Mirany, having just turned eighteen. He had scruffy, light brown hair and eyes to match. He was tall and extremely strong, having inherited his father's strength and agility.

"I have no idea how to get through to her," Angel confessed. "She's been doing this for too long. I told you we should have intervened sooner."

"If we had intervened any sooner you would be a pile of dust," said Wesley. "And the only reason you're not is because she wants help. She wouldn't have a week ago."

"The only reason I'm not dust is because I'm stronger than her," said Angel. "She doesn't want help now any more than she would have wanted it back then. But that was when we should have stepped in. Not now. We're too late."

Wesley sighed. He had dark brown hair and grey eyes, which were hidden behind rectangular glasses. He was English and until two years ago, had been a Watcher, before the Watcher's Council had thrown him out. Angel ran a hand through his hair frustratedly, unable to come up with any sort of plan to get Mirany to talk about what she had done.

"Do you think she would open up to someone who hasn't bashed her head in?" asked Cordelia, walking in.

Cordelia's hair was a lot like Mirany's, long and dark brown. Cordelia had brown eyes and looked like she should be a super-model, not a demon hunter.

"No," said Angel. "At least she knows who I am. I think she likes having that advantage. She'd be likely to attack if she didn't know who she was talking to. Or, not talking to."

"It really bothers you, doesn't it?" asked Cordelia. "That a teenage girl, someone that should only have to worry about boys and grades, is murdering people and shutting you out?"

"Yeah," said Angel shortly. "It bothers me. She has a soul. She can't just live with this. She's killed ten people in a month. That's not something you just get over. You should have seen her house. It looks like a serial killer's house. You know, the wall of death or whatever. She's got pictures and information on these guys. Seeing that every day, the guilt would be...unbearable."

"We are still talking about the girl right?" asked Cordelia.

Angel glared at her.

"Sorry," said Cordelia. "Just had to ask."

"She has a point Angel. Tell the girl about yourself," said Wesley. "Relate to her."

"No," said Angel. "She doesn't want to relate to someone. She just doesn't want to feel the pain that the guilt has brought upon her."

"Then make her," said Connor. "It's obviously the only way she'll open up. Make her feel that pain. I'm sorry but I think you need to make her hate you."

...

"I didn't want to do this Mirany, but you're giving me no choice."

Mirany looked at him, confused.

"What? You're finally gonna let me go?"

Angel glared at her.

"Did Andrew Baker take long to die?" he asked.

Mirany tensed.

"And what about Mark Harrison?" Angel continued. "Cary Donning?"

"Enough," said Mirany, shaking. "Enough."

To Angel's surprise, Mirany crushed the manacles around her wrists in her hands and got to her feet. He hadn't realised how strong this Slayer was.

"If you haven't got anything else to say, I'm leaving," she said tersely, heading towards the door.

"Don't get fooled by those manacles. They were half a centimetre thick. That door is a three inches thick. You won't be able to bust that."

Mirany turned around, glaring at him.

"Let me out," she said, her voice shaking with anger and pain.

"No," said Angel simply. "Why won't you talk to me Mirany? I can help you."

"No, you can't," said Mirany, hitting the wall with anger. "No one can. I put my heart in a box and I threw away the key. I made sure of it."

Mirany sunk to the ground, tears running down her face.

"I didn't...I didn't want to hurt anyone. I've made mistakes, alright? But that's all they were. Just mistakes."

"Mistakes that cost people their lives," said Angel.

Mirany was looking anywhere but at him.

"Why?" he asked.

"You know what?" asked Mirany, composing herself far too quickly and scrambling back to her feet. "I don't care. I don't care anymore. I did what I did, and I did it with a clear conscience. Stick me jail, kill me, I don't care. It doesn't matter anymore. None of it matters. Those men, they don't matter anymore. I've had enough of feeling sorry for them. I've made up my mind. They don't matter."

"You don't mean that," said Angel.

"Prove it," Mirany snapped. "Go on. Prove that I don't mean it. You can't."

Angel pulled a handful of the pictures that were on Mirany's table and handed them to her. Mirany stared at them, but not really seeing them at all. With every photo that she saw, she thought back to how they died.

"If they didn't matter, you wouldn't have tried to remember them. You wouldn't have passed their pictures everyday if they didn't matter. You tried to remember their faces, their names. Their lives and their deaths. Whether they had someone to mourn them or not, you made sure that they wouldn't be forgotten. They matter to you Mirany. They call out to you all the time. You're constantly swamped by memories of them. To you, they mean the world."

Mirany swallowed, tears sparkling in her eyes again, but Angel wasn't finished yet. He gathered up the last of his argument and brought it home.

"You're a seventeen year old girl Mirany. You don't have to go through this alone. You can't go through this alone. I know what it's like to have killed. To feel what you felt with every life taken. To try to live while the weight of their death's press on your shoulders. I can help you Mirany, but you need to trust me."

Angel paused, waiting for Mirany to speak, but she seemed unable to say a word.

"Those men died because you are untrained, careless and angry. I don't know what you're angry about, and I sure as hell don't care. I care about the people that have fallen victim to your anger. You need help Mirany, and you need it now."

Mirany dropped to her hands and knees and sobbed. Angel knelt down beside her, feeling extremely bad about what he had just done, and pulled her into his chest.

"My brother...My brother deserted me when my parents died. A couple of weeks later...the police found his body."

Angel sighed.

"Maybe by walking out, your brother gave you your life," he said.

Mirany didn't reply as she tried to collect herself again. After a few minutes, she got back to her feet and Angel followed.

"Well...it was terrible meeting you and I hope we never see each other again," said Mirany truthfully. "And even though I know that that's not going to happen...don't drop by any time soon."

"Normally, I would agree but, you're working with me from now on."

Mirany glared at him.

"I'm thankful for everything that you've done for me. You know the whole, making me hurt and chaining me up and stuff, but there is no way I am going to work with you," said Mirany stubbornly. "The day that I agree to work with you will be the day that hell freezes over."

"Since when did you have to agree?"

"I'm not going to work with you," said Mirany firmly. "No. I refuse to work with you."

"Let me make this quite clear," said Angel. "If you don't work with me, I'll hand you over to child services and tell the police who's been murdering people. It's your choice of course but I would think twice before you refuse again."

"That's blackmail," said Mirany. "You can go to jail for that too."

"I like to think of it as an agreement where I win either way," said Angel. "I can help you move on Mirany. You'll find that very hard to do that if you don't work with me."

Mirany sighed.

"Deal," she said, defeated. "Can I go now? Please? Or aren't you finished annoying the hell out of me?"

Angel unlocked the door and held it open for her.

"I'll drive you home," he said.

...

"Why are we here?" asked Mirany.

"To teach you the difference between vampires and humans," said Angel, jumping out of the convertible and walking into the graveyard, Mirany trailing behind him despondently.

"But why are we _here_?" asked Mirany. "We've passed like, ten graveyards on our way here, which I might add, is in the opposite direction to where my place is. Why _this_ graveyard?"

"Is there a problem with this graveyard?" asked Angel, looking at her questioningly.

Mirany's jaw set and she squared her shoulders.

"I'd just like to keep one graveyard death free," she said.

"You haven't patrolled in this graveyard?" asked Angel. "Why not?"

"My house is fifty miles away," said Mirany. "You figure it out."

Angel looked at her, annoyed.

"You mean mansion. And are you coming or not?" he asked.

Mirany scowled at him.

"Of course I'm coming. I'm not scared of a graveyard."

"Then hurry up," said Angel, tossing her a stake.

Mirany paused before hurrying after Angel, sticking close to his side.

"Try to use that on me and it'll be the last thing you do," said Angel threateningly.

Mirany grumbled an understanding as she caught sight of a group of graves up ahead, quickly changing direction.

"Where are you going?" asked Angel, seizing her around the waist to stop her.

"I just think we should split up. You know, cover more ground. You go that way and I'll go this way," said Mirany, struggling to loosen Angel's grip.

"No, we should stick together," said Angel, pulling her on. "You don't need to kill anyone else."

"I think I heard something over that way," said Mirany, desperately trying to get away from Angel.

"Imagination," said Angel simply.

Mirany shook herself free and glared at Angel.

"Take a hint," she snapped. "I don't want to go that way."

"Hint taken," said Angel, a warning in his voice. "Hint ignored."

"Look I realise that because you're not human, you don't have emotions, but some of us do. And mine will go into overdrive if I go that way."

"Because I have a soul I am capable of human emotion," said Angel calmly. "And I know that seeing your family's graves is going to be hard on you, but you can't live your life unless you face your fears Mirany."

"We didn't come here to patrol," said Mirany, scowling. "We came here so that you could play Doctor Phil."

"Take your heart out of its box Mirany," Angel snapped. "Because at the moment, I'm more human than you are."

That stung Mirany and Angel knew that he had just crossed a line.

"You son-of-a... You don't care, do you?" Mirany asked. "Do you know how my parents died?"

Angel shook his head, wary of the answer.

"They were killed by vampires, right in front of me. Two of them held me down while the others pigged out. They made me watch."

"Mirany..." Angel started, staring behind her.

"And my brother? My brother died because I was careless. Because I didn't bother to make sure that the bloody demon was dead. You wanna know why those people died? It's because I wasn't going to make the same mistake again."

"How touching," sneered a voice from behind her. "It all seems so hard to bear."

Mirany stiffened, her face masked.

"You know what was the best bit about that story?" asked the vampire happily. "Your calling him a son of a bitch. That was heartfelt."

The vampire chuckled. Mirany waited until it grabbed her before she sprang into action. She hit and kicked the vampire until it resembled a bloody pulp, only then did she stab it in the heart with her stake.

Mirany turned back to Angel, only to find that he was standing in front of her mother's grave, reading the headstones of her family. Mirany scowled and started to walk away. She wasn't going to take the bait.

"It's fifty miles to your place," Angel called after her. "Which begs the question, why did you bury them so far away? Seems like a very odd thing to do."

Mirany stood stock still as Angel came up behind her. She could feel his cold breath on the back of her neck as he leant in towards her. She was shaking slightly, almost afraid of what he was going to say to her this time around. Afraid of what he was going to make her feel.

"I'll tell you why. Because you didn't want to face your past. Your mistakes," he whispered in her ear. "You didn't want to remember what you just told me. You simply wanted to run away from your old life. You wanted to stop being Mirany Hunter and just be the Vampire Slayer. You made sure that they were buried far away so that you didn't have to search for the key that revealed your heart."

Mirany hadn't moved yet.

"You think that your emotions are your weakness, but they're not. They're your strength. I'll admit that I've watched you fight before and you've never beaten something up like that. Your emotions aren't the enemy Mirany. In fact, they'll probably be the things that will keep you alive. Sure, your strength helps, but what you feel in here..."

Angel tapped Mirany's chest, almost enjoying watching her squirm uncomfortably.

"...that is what powers you."

Mirany scowled.

"What I feel doesn't matter, my job doesn't depend on it," she said.

"But it's informed by it," said Angel. "Or are you as cold and unfeeling as you seem?"

Angel waited as Mirany searched for an answer.

"Yes," she said finally, walking away.

"Your family is buried here Mirany," said Angel, overtaking her and standing in front of her, blocking her way.

Mirany tried to double take him but he wasn't fooled.

"As much as you don't want to face that, you have to. You're not leaving this place yet, even if I have to chain you to the fence. Now I'm sorry that your family died at the hands of demons that you didn't kill, but that does not give you the right to turn your back on them. To disrespect them."

"How dare you?" Mirany snarled, fingering her stake angrily. "How dare you suggest that I am disrespecting my own blood? I chose to bury them away from me because I knew that if they were still alive, they would never want to lay eyes on me again. I betrayed them. I betrayed their trust. I was the Slayer. Those vampires should have been dead. And I sure as hell shouldn't have been stupid enough to invite them inside. My family died because of me. I have no right to so much as think about them, let alone stand in front of their final resting place."

"What do you mean, you _were_ the Slayer?" asked Angel.

"Jeez, that whole speech and the one line you're interested in is the only line that doesn't matter?" asked Mirany angrily.

"It obviously matters to you," said Angel.

Mirany's shoulder slumped slightly.

"The Slayer died when the girl did," she said shortly. "Now I'm just a hunter. Like everything else in my life, it disappeared when I bound my heart. You've heard the phrase 'a heart of stone,' yeah? Well I'm living proof of that."

Angel shook his head.

"Mirany, you are not to blame for your family's deaths. It's unfortunate that they all died at the hands of demons but that doesn't make it your fault. There are some demons you can't kill, and you're going to have to learn to accept that. Be brave Mirany. Kill the demon that you've become, and find the girl again. Stand in front of your family's graves and pay your respects."

Mirany closed her eyes, fighting back tears.

"I can't..." she started. "I..."

Mirany shook her head.

"I can't."

"Mirany," said Angel, "you have vented a year's worth of anger in half an hour. Find the courage to take that last step."

Mirany turned to look at her family's graves and took a few shaky steps towards them, but stopped.

"Mirany, it's okay. You can do this," said Angel. "Here."

Angel took her hand and pulled her gently forwards until she was standing right in front of her father's grave.

"I'll be in the car," he said, letting her go and heading back towards the entrance.

Mirany grunted, almost unaware of Angel's departure. She was too busy staring at the graves in front of her to take much notice of anything else. She heard the car door slam and took a deep breath.

"Hi," she said awkwardly. "It's me, Mirany."

She sighed.

"This is stupid," she muttered under her breath, but something made her continue. "I have questions but, you can't answer them. No offence but, you're dead."

Tears were welling up in Mirany's eyes.

"I've killed people," she said. "And I can't decide whether I did it by accident or not. Am I still a good person? Should I stop trying to do the right thing? Every time I do someone ends up hurt. Someone innocent. I don't feel like that protector of the innocent anymore. I feel more like the Grim Reaper."

Mirany stood in front of the graves for a few more moments before returning to Angel. Angel took one look at her and smiled sadly.

"You're never coming back here again, are you?" he asked.

"Never," Mirany agreed.

...

Mirany woke up on the floor beside her bed. Her head was still pounding from where Angel had hit her with the wall.

"Oh man. I should have just staked him," Mirany muttered. "Would have saved me an awful amount of pain."

The doorbell rang loudly.

"Coming," Mirany muttered, scrambling to her feet and staggering slightly before setting off down the hallway to the front door. "I employ people for this but I'm coming anyway."

"Good morning," said the postman as she opened the door.

"Says who?" Mirany grunted.

The postman smirked.

"I need you to sign off on this," he said.

Mirany scribbled on the clip-board and took the package, muttering a distracted goodbye to the postman and closing the door in his face.

The package was covered in postage stamps from Italy to Australia to Egypt. Mirany took one look at it and seemed to jump back in time to nearly four years previously, when her parents had gone on what they had planned to be a six month trip around the world, but had turned out to be around eight months.

Around halfway through the trip, Mirany had discovered her powers and had managed to contact her parents to tell them. She hadn't been able to get much information from them apart from 'you're the Slayer.' Later that month, her brother had received a package from them but she had not. When she had confronted her parents, they had assured her that they had sent one and that it must have gotten lost in the mail.

Now, staring down at all the stamps, Mirany realised that this package must be the package that never came. She sat down slowly and opened it with shaking hands. Inside was a letter and a large, stuffed leather bag. Mirany slit open the letter and read through it quickly. Her eyes filled with tears as she read, and by the time she had finished, they were running down her face. Mirany didn't open the bag. She didn't feel the need to become a human fire hydrant.

"Mirany?" asked Angel's voice as he banged on the door. "You home?"

Mirany jumped and hurried to the door, clutching her chest.

"Angel," she gasped. "Trust me when I say that no one is too young to have a heart attack, so next time, use the doorbell and don't put a hole through my door."

"Sorry," said Angel. "Did I scare you?"

"Only a lot," sighed Mirany.

"Can I come in?" asked Angel.

"Once invited, always invited," said Mirany, walking back into the living room. "Do you want a drink? I'm all out of O-positive I'm afraid but I've got beer."

"No," said Angel, sitting down.

"What can I help you with then?" asked Mirany.

"I was just wondering if you wanted to train," said Angel. "You have a lot to learn and improve on and I'd like to start as soon as possible."

"Sure," said Mirany, shrugging. "I'll just...get ready and you can lead the way."

Angel nodded and Mirany walked out of the room.

Looking around, Angel noticed the package, which hadn't been there when he had searched the place a week ago. Making sure that Mirany wasn't about to return, Angel opened the bag and sifted through the contents, careful not to touch anything that could cause him harm. Unfortunately, that was hard to do and he managed to sustain several burns before re-zipping the bag and unfolding the letter.

_Dear Mirany,_

_You are probably wondering why we didn't say much when you called to tell us about your new found powers. Please understand that we were in a very crowded public area and couldn't say much more than what we did. The Slayer is one girl in the entire world that is chosen to fight and kill the demons and vampires. She is given extraordinary strength and stamina to counteract that of a vampire's._

_Now that you are the Slayer, it is time we told you the truth about ourselves. We are no more scientists then you are a lawyer. We are Watchers. We are part of a select group of people that help and train Vampire Slayers and those out to fight vampires. We must ask you that you do not tell anyone else about this. It is of the utmost importance that no one but us knows what we truly are._

_As much as we would like to come home this very minute, we can not. Because you have found out what you are, we must wait for instructions from the Watcher's Council. Because of this, we will not be able to be there for you in your first few months being the Slayer. These months will be scary, challenging and disturbing for you. Know that we are only a phone call away, should you need to contact us._

_In this package you will find the bare necessities needed for killing vampires and demons. You should remember many of the stories we have told you about vampires and demons but let us remind you. Vampires can be killed by wooden stakes to the heart, sunlight, fire or decapitation. They can be harmed by holy water, crosses, small flames and garlic. Demons can be killed much the same way, but they can resist sunlight. They will also be killed by any sharp object in the heart, not just a stake, though it does do the job._

_If you are in need of any help relating to slaying and we are unreachable, we have a friend who lives in LA and who has been fighting demons for many years. He would be more than pleased to help you in any way. His name is Angel and he lives at the Hyperion Hotel (no longer in business). He is a vampire himself, however, he has a soul and no longer attacks humans. Please contact him if you need help from someone a little closer to home._

_We hope that this helps you, and if you have any questions, please call us._

_We'll see you soon,_

_Love Mum and Dad._

Angel heard Mirany's door close and he quickly replaced the letter and got to his feet.

"Ready?" he asked when Mirany reappeared.

"You knew my parents and you didn't say anything?" Mirany asked.

Angel tried to look surprised.

"I don't know what you're..." he started.

"Don't be an idiot Angel. Who wouldn't have read that letter when it was staring them in the face? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't think it would help," said Angel.

"Well it would have," said Mirany simply as she led Angel to the door. "Just something for you to think about next time."


	2. Trust

"I hate you. I really, really hate you."

Angel scowled at Mirany.

"Is that any way to talk to your elders?" he asked.

"It is when they drag you out to graveyards while you're trying to sleep," said Mirany angrily.

"Oh, get over it," said Angel. "It's not like you had anything better to do."

"I believe that I could have benefitted from some sleep," said Mirany pointedly.

"Look," said Angel. "If you want to sleep, sleep. I'm not stopping you. However the gang of vampires over there probably will. Kill the vampires and you can sleep."

"Is that a promise?" asked Mirany.

"Yes," Angel sighed exasperatedly. "If you kill them, I will let you sleep."

"Well, why didn't you say so?" asked Mirany, pulling a stake from her pocket and twirling it in her fingers. "Killing's my specialty."

"That I am aware of," said Angel.

Mirany ignored him and began to make her way silently towards the group of five or six vampires. They were all wearing clothing that had clearly come from the seventies and they were talking, arguing and cackling about fashions now-a-days and which type of blood tasted best. None of them had noticed Mirany getting closer and closer until she was almost upon them, when Mirany stepped on a twig, which snapped much louder than she would have expected for something so thin.

The vampires all whipped around to meet their stalker and Mirany dived at them, wrestling two to the ground at once and managing to destroy one of them. The other wriggled around, squirming out of the way whenever Mirany tried to drive her stake through its heart. In the tussle with this vampire, Mirany forgot about the other four vampires, but she soon remembered them when one lifted her off the ground and threw her ten feet away.

Mirany landed hard against a gravestone and lay dazed for a moment, but she couldn't spare any longer than that before two of the vampires were bearing down on her again.

"You know, I could use a little help here," she yelled at Angel as she rolled away from the fists that would have otherwise connected with, and crushed, her skull.

"Well, you can choose, help or sleep?" asked Angel.

If looks could kill, Mirany's would have done so if Angel hadn't already been dead. However, Angel knew that if he didn't help, he was likely to end up on the receiving end of Mirany's stake.

"Alright," he said, pulling his own stake out. "If you insist."

"I really do."

He lashed out at one of the five now ready to tear Mirany apart and managed to land his stake right on target. Mirany kicked one of the vampires in the knee cap and heard a very satisfying crack. The vampire howled in pain and dived at Mirany, who scrambled out of the way at the last second, getting back to her feet and staking the vampire quickly before turning to the other three.

Angel already had one in a strangle hold and was trying to stake it, the other two were still after Mirany.

"You two wouldn't happen to just...spontaneously burst into dust now would you?" she asked.

One vampire took her talking as an opportunity to punch her hard in the jaw and Mirany staggered backwards.

"I'll take that as a no," she muttered.

Mirany sent a sucker punch into the vampire's stomach and brought her fist down on the back of its neck, stunning it and giving her both a shield from the other vampire and time to stake it. Angel had finished off the vampire he had been struggling with and tackled the last vampire to the ground, staking it without difficulty.

Mirany leant against a tree and exhaled loudly.

"That was interesting," she commented.

"Six of them," Angel muttered. "I haven't seen a group that large in a while."

"So what?" asked Mirany. "They were probably all buds in vampire collage and decided to stick together after graduation."

Angel scowled at her.

"Or not," she said.

"We should look around," said Angel. "There might be more of them."

"Oh no," said Mirany fervently. "I'm going home."

"You won't be able to get home without transport, which, you don't have right now," said Angel.

"That's alright, I'll hard-wire your car. I can do that with my eyes closed," said Mirany. "What sort of a mechanic would I be if I couldn't?"

"A sensible, law abiding one maybe?" suggested Angel.

"Now where's the fun in that?" asked Mirany.

"Just don't hurt my car," said Angel. "In fact, don't so much as touch my car. No actually, don't even look at my car."

"And you think that ordering me not to hard-wire your car will stop me?" asked Mirany. "Which planet are you on?"

"If you hard-wire my car I will keep you up all night for the next month," said Angel. "And I will make you train so hard that you'll be sweating blood."

Mirany stared at him.

"You know, you come off all calm and non-violent, unless you're fighting vampires obviously, but the moment someone threatens your car, you turn into the Terminator."

"I have been known to do so," said Angel. "But you can't talk. All someone has to do is touch your motorcycle and you're ripping them in two."

"Yes, but at least I'm like that all the time," said Mirany, walking away.

"I swear Mirany, if you touch my car..." started Angel.

"Oh relax," said Mirany exasperatedly. "I'm not going to towards your stupid car. I'm going to go and look for vampires. Now are you coming with me or not?"

Angel scowled at her for a moment before following her.

...

"Ow! Stop it!" Mirany snapped.

"I'm trying to help," Angel snapped back. "If you hadn't gotten yourself stabbed, I wouldn't be here trying to bandage you up and you wouldn't be in pain."

Mirany glared at him.

"I can put my own bandages on you know," she said. "I don't need you causing me additional pain when I can do it without causing myself any pain."

"You do cause yourself pain, you just don't feel it because you're so intoxicated," said Angel frostily.

"Hey, what's going on?" asked Connor. "Oh, it's you. Never mind."

"What is this?" asked Mirany indignantly. "The 'We Hate Mirany Club?' I'm sorry if I'm not the nicest person in the world, but I don't believe that my actions warrant you guys hating my guts."

"What? You don't believe that murdering people warrants others being a little sour towards you?" asked Connor, "because I do."

Mirany got to her feet, shaking Angel off her arm, and stomped out of the room into the courtyard of the hotel. Angel glared at Connor.

"Good going," he said sourly.

"She's being dramatic," said Connor carelessly. "She's not nearly as insulted as she sounds."

"And you would know this how?" asked Angel.

"Does she look sad to you?" asked Connor, gesturing outside at Mirany.

She was currently performing one-handed cartwheels and flips. Angel sighed.

"Look, just go easy on her. She's trying," he said.

"Why should I go easy if you don't?" asked Connor.

"Because she expects it from me," said Angel. "I'm a vampire and I've knocked her around a bit before. She thinks it's just my nature. You are a teenage human being. You should not act like me."

Connor glared at Mirany.

"What actually bugs you about her?" asked Angel. "You couldn't care less about how many people she's killed. Why are you being such a bastard to her?"

"You know as well as I do that she's a rich, spoilt brat. She needs someone to knock that attitude right out of her," said Connor. "That's why I'm being a bastard."

He walked away from Angel, who stared after him in surprise. He had never seen Connor hate someone like he seemed to hate Mirany. After a few moments, he went out into the courtyard and sat down in the shade, watching Mirany as she continued to flip her way around the paved area. After a while, Angel grabbed her halfway through a flip and she came crashing to the ground.

"Ow. What was that for?" she groaned, rubbing her head.

"That didn't hurt," said Angel carelessly.

"I think you'll find that it did," said Mirany. "Why do I hang around you? All that happens is that I get hurt, then you insult me, then I get hurt again."

"Look, I'm sorry about Connor. There's something about you that just sets him off," said Angel.

"I'm deciding not to take that as an insult," said Mirany, scowling.

"Good, because it wasn't, it was just the truth," said Angel. "I'm sorry if the truth is insulting."

"I hate you," said Mirany. "You know how much I hate you right?"

"I have a fair idea," said Angel. "You should really stop moving around so much. You're still bleeding fairly badly."

"Yeah, and crashing against the ground didn't help much either," said Mirany pointedly.

"You're the one that flipped in front of me. You should know better."

"You'd think that wouldn't you?" Mirany muttered. "Well, if you're done fixing my arm, will you please take me home?"

"Yeah, sure," said Angel, getting to his feet. "There's just one condition."

Mirany groaned.

"What?" she sighed.

"I want to stay and make sure you're okay. You got beat up pretty bad by that first lot of vampires and you didn't do much better with the second lot. I shouldn't have let you keep going. That demon was taking it too far and all those flips you were just doing can't have helped much. You can't stress your body like that. I want to make sure that you don't crash."

"What? Like I just did?"

"Mirany."

Mirany considered him.

"You won't get me up at a ridiculous hour of the morning?" she asked.

Angel shook his head.

"And once you know that I'm not going to crash you'll leave?" Mirany asked.

"If by tomorrow morning you haven't crashed, yes, I will leave," said Angel.

"Alright," said Mirany grudgingly.

"Good," said Angel. "Let's go."

...

Mirany woke up to the sound of crashing outside her room. Scowling heavily, she rolled out of bed and stomped out of her room.

"Angel, what the hell are you doing?" she snarled.

Angel looked up guiltily, trying and failing to hide the bow and arrow behind his back.

"Just...hanging," he said.

"Generally people use those outside," said Mirany. "Or at least in a place where you can't break something. Speaking of breaking something, what woke me up?"

"Just a couple of weapons...falling off the wall...and hitting each other," said Angel, stepping behind a couch just in case Mirany decided to launch herself at him.

Mirany sighed, choosing not to care that she was woken up by Angel destroying her home.

"What's the time?" she asked, walking down a hallway, Angel following behind her.

"Half past ten," said Angel. "You sleep for a really long time."

"I could have slept for longer if you hadn't woken me up," Mirany pointed out.

"True," said Angel. "Sorry."

"So you should be," said Mirany, leading Angel into a room with a large glass dining table and a television that was easily that same hsix as he was on the wall behind the foot of the table. There was a bar on one side of the television and a large bay window on the other, with the heavy red curtains closed over it, but Angel knew that if they were open, he would have been able to look over Mirany's entire estate, that is, if he didn't burst into flames.

"Drink?" asked Mirany shortly.

Angel shook his head, staring at the enormous television as he sat down. Mirany sat down opposite him, a bottle of beer in her hand.

"Starting a little early aren't you?" asked Angel, resigned to the fact that he would never be able to stop her from drinking.

"Makes me a bit more pleasant to deal with," said Mirany.

"Yeah, but it also makes you incapable of using your brain for the rest of the day and gives you a hangover later. You're not so pleasant to deal with then."

"Either shut up and let me drink in peace or change the topic to something that you might win," said Mirany.

"To anyone else, I would have won," said Angel. "You're just weird."

"That's me," said Mirany. "But not only am I weird, I'm also the Slayer and if you continue to harass me at this hour of the morning I will have no choice but to attach a cross to your forehead."

Angel winced at the thought and changed to topic quickly.

"This place is huge, yet sparklingly clean. How?" he asked. "Magic?"

"Try a different 'm' word. Ever heard of maids?" asked Mirany. "Back in your day they might have been called servants, slaves...um...manservants...scullion?"

Angel chuckled.

"I'm not _that_ old," he said.

"Really?" asked Mirany. "How old then? For point of reference."

"247," said Angel casually.

"Wow, you're amazingly old," said Mirany.

"Hey!" said Angel indignantly.

"Sorry," said Mirany. "But you can't deny that. You're like my...great, great, great, great, great grandfather. That is, you know, if you were related to me."

"I kinda figured that," said Angel.

"Sorry to interrupt," said Connor, walking in and sounding as though he couldn't care less whether he had interrupted or not. "Teresa showed me in. Dad, we have a problem."

"I must remember to tell Teresa not to let you in," said Mirany sourly.

"Starting a little early aren't you?" asked Connor.

"Why does everybody ask that?" asked Mirany. "Drinking makes me more mellow. More chilled."

"Tell that to the guys at the graveyards," said Connor. "And I wasn't referring to your drinking. I was referring to your bad mood. I thought that considering you always have a bad mood in the evenings, you would be a morning person and therefore easier to deal with in the morning."

"My bad mood only gets better, just not much better," said Mirany. "I am not a morning person. I am very grumpy in the mornings."

"You're always grumpy," said Angel. "What's the problem Connor?"

"Cordelia didn't come back last night," said Connor.

Mirany snorted.

"And you immediately assume that there's a problem?" she asked. "Jeez, are you sure you're a teenage boy?"

"She would call if she was going to go to someone else's place," said Angel. "It's kinda compulsory to know where everyone is when we're in this business."

"Business," Mirany muttered. "The day you get someone walking through the doors that actually wants your help there'll be a parade."

"You needed our help," Connor pointed out.

"I may have needed it but I don't recall ever walking through those doors and asking for your help. In fact, I don't even remember walking through those doors."

"You were unconscious," said Angel conversationally. "When'd you last hear from her?"

"Last night when she left," said Connor. "Haven't heard anything since."

"Hence being when you last heard from her," Mirany said pointedly.

Connor scowled at her.

"Okay, let's assume that something actually is wrong," she said. "How exactly do you plan to find her if you can't involve the police? This is LA. The place is huge."

"You've got contacts don't you?" asked Angel.

"What? No. Angel, I am not letting you use me. I did not sign up to join your little gang. I am only here for your little rehab program you've got going, then I'm gone. No other involvement."

"If you don't help us she might die," said Angel. "Do you really want another death on your conscience?"

Mirany glared at him.

"Fine," she snapped. "This time only. Do I make myself clear?"

"Hundred percent," said Angel quickly. "Connor, call Wesley. Get him to knock down a few doors, see if he can find anything out. Mirany...finish your drink before you talk again."

"Thank you," Mirany hissed.

...

"We have been here for two hours and we have absolutely nothing," said Connor. "Not only that, but why do I get the feeling that we're actually not doing anything?"

"Well go and knock down doors then," Mirany snapped. "Not only will you be doing something, but instead of getting nothing, you'll get a sore foot."

"Is that the best you can come up with?" asked Connor. "A sore foot?"

"Okay, you two need to give it a rest," said Angel impatiently. "Connor, take Mirany's advice and go and help Wesley if you don't want to sit here."

Connor scowled and flopped back into his chair.

"Mirany, stop calling people who might know something. Just call someone who can find out," said Angel.

"Roger that Cap'n," said Mirany, scrolling through a long list of contacts on her phone. "You know, you really should get a new job description. You can't be a demonic PI if you can't figure out a kidnapping case."

"We don't even know if she's been kidnapped," said Connor. "She could just have been killed."

"We don't all have the luxury of being the 'bringer of doom' unlike you," said Mirany. "Some of us have to settle for hoping for the best."

"You didn't even want to help," said Connor. "Why do you care?"

"Because Mirany knows that her being miserable doesn't help anyone," said Angel. "Just like you're not helping anyone."

"Shut up so I can hear this dude," Mirany ordered.

Connor gave her a mock salute and she stomped on his toe as she got to her feet. Connor grimaced in pain and kicked her in the shins as retaliation.

"Tony," Mirany winced, trying to sound cheerful through her pain. "How's it going? That's great. Look, I think I have a way for you to repay me. You remember, the thing with your ex and the...yeah, that. Listen, I need some information that I think you know how to get. Missing person. Name's Cordelia..."

Mirany looked at Angel inquisitively.

"Chase," said Angel.

"...Chase. Cordelia Chase. Works with Angel. You know, vampire with a soul? You don't? Okay, well most of the people around here do, you won't have to explain to many of them. If you do, he used to be Angelus...you do know him. Excellent."

Mirany turned back to Angel.

"Where'd she disappear from?"

"Mall," said Connor. "Well, that's where she was headed anyway."

"Thank you."

Mirany returned to her phone.

"Okay, this chick, disappeared from the mall, but as far as I'm aware, she may not have even gotten that far. I need results in half an hour and no, that is not up for compromise. You get me something I can use and there'll be an envelope of green in your mailbox by the end of the day. I'll be expecting your call."

Mirany hung up and sat down again.

"I'm not sure whether or not I feel happy about trusting the word of someone who's just in it for the money," said Angel.

"Trust me, this dude knows that he can't trick me," said Mirany. "And he knows the consequences of trying."

"I wanna know why you have contacts," said Connor. "Do any dealing?"

"I have contacts because I need them," said Mirany coolly. "I run a system of cheques and balances. I do a guy a favour, he does me a favour, I either keep his number because he did the job well, or I completely erase him from my life."

"That doesn't answer my question," said Connor.

"Angel, may I please shove a stick up your son's..."

Mirany never finished. She was interrupted by a smash from the room next door and they all jumped to their feet, dashing into the room to see what was the cause.

Mirany scowled heavily.

"This is just not my day, is it?" she muttered, glaring at the broken window.

"Now's probably not the time to worry about your bad luck," said Connor, picking up the object that had smashed it and tossing it to Angel, who was standing in a corner to avoid bursting into flames.

"You know, if I hadn't let you come back here last night, I would have been so much better off," said Mirany.

"Go and complain to someone who cares," said Connor. "What is it?"

"A brick, what does it look like?" asked Angel exasperatedly.

"Where's the note? There's always a note," said Mirany.

"I don't see one," said Angel, turning the brick over in his hands.

"It could just be that someone really wants to bring down the property value on this place," Connor suggested. "Can't say I blame them."

"If that were the case, I helped them," said Angel.

"Yeah, which is why I'm never leaving you unsupervised in this place again," Mirany said.

Angel was still examining the brick.

"What'd you do?" asked Connor.

"I may have dislodged a couple of weapons from the wall, in turn chipping the stone and putting a fairly decent looking dent in the floor," said Angel.

"What?" Mirany hissed.

"I said I may have," said Angel. "Doesn't mean I did."

"No, it means you did, you're just not confessing to it," Mirany growled. "I swear I am going to rip your head off one day."

"I look forward to it," said Angel coolly.

He twisted the brick and the two halves parted to reveal that the brick was hollowed out. Inside was a small piece of paper.

"'You're next'," he read. "I'm next?"

"I doubt it," said Connor. "This is Mirany's house. The rock was thrown through Mirany's window. Mirany's next."

"Why do I have to be next?" asked Mirany. "Why can't you be next? And next for what exactly? Are they going to kidnap me?"

"Because, like you always point out, I'm much less important than you," said Connor. "It's common sense to take the most important people first. Bastard is targeting my team."

"Then why would they take Cordelia?" asked Mirany.

"She can't fight," said Angel. "Start off small, progress to large. They may already have Wesley. Now they think they're ready for the big guns."

"What is it about you that's ticked them off?" Connor wondered.

"I can't imagine," said Mirany sarcastically. "It could be anything. You're not exactly Mr Popularity."

"Thank you for that Miss Popularity," said Angel sarcastically. "We need to get you somewhere safe. We have no idea when they'll strike. First thing, we get you out of this room and into a room with no windows."

"What? No," said Mirany. "I refuse to hide. They want us split up."

"And that's exactly what they're going to get," said Angel. "Connor, take her somewhere where she can't be seen from the outside."

"Why me?" asked Connor indignantly.

"Hey!" said Mirany indignantly. "Nobody is taking me anywhere. And even if they were, they shouldn't be complaining. I'm great company."

"Do I have to knock you out again?" asked Angel.

"Yes," said Mirany. "Because I am not going anywhere with your stuck-up son, especially if I have to stay with him until this is sorted out. That could be a long time. And by the way-"

Connor swung at her head with the handle of an axe and Mirany crumpled.

"Nice shot," said Angel.

"She was getting on my nerves," said Connor. "I don't have to stay with her do I?"

"Yeah, you do," said Angel. "Just in case."

"Oh joy," said Connor sarcastically.

...

Mirany groaned as she woke up and stared around blearily. As far as she could tell due to lack of light, she was in a study somewhere and someone was leaning against the wall nearby.

"Why are we here?" she mumbled.

"Because it's away from most dangers," said Connor shortly. "Took you long enough to wake up."

"Sorry," said Mirany sarcastically. "But if I recall correctly I was hit pretty darn hard."

"And now you've learnt from that experience and can move on," said Connor.

Mirany glared at him.

"The death stare is not going to work on me Mirany," said Connor.

Mirany continued to glare.

"But go ahead, do it anyway. Waste your time glaring when you could be killing me or something," said Connor sarcastically.

"It's an option," said Mirany. "Why couldn't you have picked a different room? The rooms on either side of this room don't have windows."

"This one's soundproofed," said Connor. "Anyway, what could you possibly have against this room? It's just a study. Not much to have a grudge against."

Mirany swallowed.

"Except, you're not exactly the study person," said Connor, "which means that this was your..."

"Dad's," said Mirany quietly.

She walked around the room, looking at everything sadly, then she grabbed the chair and dragged it over to the wall, standing on top of it and beginning to press on the wall in different spots.

"Is this some weird way that you deal with emotion or something?" asked Connor.

"Shut up," Mirany hissed, continuing to press against the stone.

"What are you doing?" asked Connor.

Mirany pressed again. There was a small click and Mirany smirked.

"I never thought to look here," she muttered.

"Look where? Mirany, what are you doing?"

"Okay, a long time ago, I found this thing, I don't know what it was. Anyway, I showed it to my dad and he grabbed it off me and said that I wasn't ready to use it yet. He wouldn't even tell me what it was or what it did. He just grabbed it and told me not to look for it. I didn't until after he...anyway, I started to poke around the place a little and obviously, couldn't find it. I just remembered that I once saw dad close something around here. And here it is."

Mirany pressed down hard on the wall, and a panel, about the size of a portable card table, moved aside to reveal a large safe with six wheels which had the letters of the alphabet on them as the combination lock.

"Damn it," Mirany muttered. "You'd think that the wall would be secure enough."

"If he hadn't put that combination lock there I would already have the Staff of Ramon," said a voice from the doorway.

Connor whipped around and immediately fell into a ready position, preparing to fight. Mirany began to spin the wheels on the lock.

"Teresa? I thought you were her maid."

"She was," said Mirany. "But not anymore. Six letters. Why'd it have to be six bloody letters?"

"At least it's not numbers," said Connor. "Then you'd be there forever. Think of words that meant something to your dad Mirany."

"There's no point," said Teresa. "I've tried every word I can think of. You won't figure it out. I knew your father better than you did."

"If that were true then...I have no reply to that," said Mirany, not really concentrating on Teresa as she desperately tried to think of the word that would open the safe.

"It doesn't matter. Once you're dead I'll have all the time in the world to figure it out," said Teresa.

"Angel wasn't the target," said Connor. "Mirany was."

"I had to make it look like the vampire was the target," said Teresa. "But you are correct. I employed some muscle to kidnap your two human friends and your vampire is currently out cold."

"Why not just stake him?" asked Mirany. "You would have done the whole world a favor."

"Mirany, shut up and think," said Connor, who was currently watching Teresa closely for any sign of an attack.

"Now it's time for you two," said Teresa as she pulled a knife from her belt. "Any last words?"

"Yeah," said Mirany. "Just the one."

Teresa looked at her suspiciously.

"Slayer," said Mirany, and she pulled open the safe.

Connor took Teresa's momentary distraction to tackle her around the waist and they both went crashing into the wall opposite the door. Mirany pulled a small wooden staff out of the safe and turned it over in her hands.

"Where's the instructions manual when you need it?" she muttered.

"Hurry up and figure it out Mirany!" Connor yelled, wrestling with Teresa, who was remarkably stronger than she looked.

"Okay, think, think, think," Mirany muttered. "Oh, Mad Eye Moody."

"Who?" asked Connor but Mirany wasn't listening.

She slammed the staff on the ground and, just like she had hoped, a large wave of energy pelted in all directions, sending books that had been on the bottom shelves of bookcases flying and her father's desk to shake violently. The energy wave reached Connor and Teresa and both were sent flying away from each other.

"Thank you Harry Potter," Mirany sighed, looking back into the safe. "Ooh, sword."

Mirany grabbed the hilt of the sword and jumped down from the chair. The sword was encrusted with rubies and sapphires and seemed to Mirany to be almost...eager to join the battle. She obliged, despite the feeling had that this sword was no normal sword.

She swung at Teresa and knocked the knife out of her hand. She took a stab at the woman, intending to stop at her throat and let Teresa walk away with little more than a few bruises on her, but the sword wouldn't let her stop. Mirany, who wasn't even close enough to Teresa to drive the sword through her, was jerked forwards as the sword drove itself straight into Teresa's heart.

The jewels on the hilt of the sword began to glow and Teresa gave an unearthly scream as she slowly began to wither and age. After a few moments, there was nothing left of her but bone, and a few moments later, nothing at all. The jewels stopped glowing. Mirany stared at the sword for a moment before dropping it and backing away.

"What the hell was that?" asked Connor.

...

"Sword's been destroyed, Angel's awake, staff's been taken by him for safe keeping and Wesley and Cordelia have returned," said Connor, ticking everything off on his fingers as he walked outside onto a large patio where Mirany was leaning against the railing. "All in all, a pretty successful recovery if I do say so myself."

Mirany stared out at her estate, not listening to a word Connor was saying.

"I have to admit, I was very impressed with your timing on that safe thing," said Connor. "That was pretty good. But don't get used to me complimenting you. This'll be the last time for a long time. I wonder why Teresa didn't know about your dad's real job if she 'knew him better than anyone else'."

Mirany continued to stare.

"It's a...nice view," Connor tried, standing beside her.

"Angel's latest 'thing' at the moment is trying to get me to trust people," said Mirany. "He keeps saying that people are worth trusting. I trusted Teresa."

"I'm not really the person you should be-" started Connor but Mirany held up a finger to silence him.

"I don't want one of Angel's pep talks on how some people will betray me but most people won't," she said. "I just want someone to listen."

Connor stared at her.

"And you chose me?" he asked her slowly.

"I figured you were the least likely to try and cheer me up," said Mirany casually.

"So you're...trusting me with your feelings?" asked Connor.

Mirany paused.

"I guess I am," she said. "Weird huh? My mind tells me not to trust anyone ever again but my sub-conscious does it anyway."

"I know you didn't want a pep talk but...don't give up on trust. The hurt of betrayal...it stings for a little while, but you miss out on so much if you shut yourself out. Everybody needs someone that they can trust with their darkest secrets, with their lives. If you don't have someone to do that...well, you tend to end up killing guys in graveyards in the middle of the night."

Mirany scowled at him.

"Well it's true isn't it?" asked Connor. "You had no-one and you were really, really bad. Like I said, killing people in graveyards in the middle of the night. But now you have Angel and you might not trust him completely, but at least it's someone you can count on if you really need him."

Mirany looked at Connor suspiciously.

"What?" asked Connor.

"I thought you hated me. Why are you being nice to me?"

Connor paused.

"I guess I am," he said, imitating Mirany's previous words. "Weird huh? My mind tells me to hate every bone of your body...but my heart tells me not to."

"I'm not sure I know you well enough to start going out with you," said Mirany. "I like to get to a handle on people before I get too close."

"Well," said Connor, "you better start, hadn't you?"

...

"You asked Mirany Hunter out," said Angel, delighted that he had found a new way to annoy his son to death.

"I did not ask her out," said Connor. "I told her I liked her. It's different."

"Two days ago, you were all for hating her guts," said Angel. "What changed?"

"She did," said Connor.

"So you think that since you last told me how you felt about her, her whole personality has changed?" asked Angel. "Bull."

"I didn't say that," said Connor.

"Then what did you say?" asked Angel.

"I said she changed. I didn't give you details," said Connor.

"Well then, give me details," said Angel impatiently. "Give me something I use to annoy you for heaven's sake."

Connor scowled heavily at him.

"Or just, tell me what changed," Angel amended. "So that I don't have to work on it with her. You can start with what you two were talking about at her place this afternoon."

"Trust," said Connor.

"Oh, yeah okay, so she doesn't have much of that left now. I stuffed that one up. But I swear I didn't know that her most trusted housemaid was going to turn out to be some crazy bitch obsessed with power."

"I'll take your word for it," said Connor. "That was pretty much what she was worried about. She wasn't sure whether it was worth it."

"Damn, now I have to start all over again," Angel muttered.

"No you don't," said Connor. "You're not the only one that knows how to give an effective pep talk."

Angel stared at him.

"_You_ told _Mirany Hunter_ that she should trust people?" he asked incredulously. "Did I miss the part where she tried to tear you to pieces? I did turn away for a few moments. I suppose she could have done it then. Do you have the scars?"

"Go jump in a ditch," Connor snapped.

"Ooh, I hit a nerve," said Angel. "Sorry, didn't realise you felt so strongly for her."

"I do _not_ feel strongly...I just helped her out, and she was grateful for it," said Connor hotly.

Angel held up his hands in surrender.

"Okay," he said. "Sorry. Calm down."

"I just listened and gave a bit of advise, without being a bastard," said Connor. "I was just...there for her. There for her to trust."


	3. Infiltration

"Mirany! Thought you'd decided to find a different pub," said Dan, the bartender and owner of one of the few human/demon bars in LA.

"Haven't had much time at the moment," said Mirany, sliding into a spot at the counter. "So, what's the latest news?"

"You're not just here for information are you?" asked Dan, looking slightly worried. "Don't you remember the last time? I still have the bruises."

"That was ages ago Dan," said Mirany. "How can you still have the bruises? Anyway, no, I'm not really interested in whatever's the latest news. Really just came for a drink."

"I can do that," said Dan. "The usual?"

"Please," said Mirany gratefully.

"You sound a little worn out."

"Dantish demon got me in a head lock, tried to strangle me," said Mirany.

Dan winced.

"Aren't they the ones with the spikes running down their arms?"

Mirany unbuttoned her collar to show Dan the puncture marks on her neck. All Dan could think of when he saw them was of some sort of crude necklace.

"They're not bleeding anymore, which is a plus," said Mirany. "But they still hurt like all hell. Luckily I managed to kill it before it could add me to its wall of people parts."

She shuddered at the memory.

"Oh, speaking of other people," said Dan, "there's a guy in one of the booths over there that wants to talk to you. He came in about a half hour ago. Said that he wouldn't insult you by buying you a drink. Tall, buff, light brown hair, black eyes. New flame?"

Mirany scowled in the direction Dan had indicated.

"Relationship troubles?" asked Dan knowingly. "Don't worry, you'll get through it. Just stay calm, you'll be fine."

"Dan, he's not my boyfriend," said Mirany.

"Wow, serious commitment issues there," said Dan. "Just relax Mirany, have a little fun."

"Dan, I swear if you don't shut up I'm gonna give your bruises bruises," Mirany threatened.

Dan swallowed.

"Did he say what he wanted?"

"Just to tell you he was here," said Dan. "And Mirany, just relax. Having a sexual relationship is not a bad thing."

"I'm not…We're not going out," said Mirany. "And did you even hear my warning?"

"I figured that if you wanted to hit me, you wouldn't have warned me," said Dan.

"You know you spend too much time in a bar when the bartender knows what you're going to do better than you do," Mirany muttered, tossing a fifty on the counter and taking her drink from Dan as she got to her feet. "Keep the change."

"As always, I thank you from the bottom of my heart," said Dan. "Relax."

Mirany shook her head warningly at him before making her way over to the booths. She could see Angel looking around the bar, determined not to look at her.

"Okay, the 'pretending not to notice me' thing only works if you haven't asked the bartender to tell me that you're waiting for me," said Mirany, sliding into the seat opposite him.

"I guess it was a bit of a stupid idea," said Angel. "Dan know you're under age?"

"I gave him the money to set this place up," said Mirany. "If he doesn't provide me with alcohol, I could take this all away from him in the blink of an eye, not to mention beat him into an oblivion while I'm at it."

"Did you tell him to allow demons here as well or did he throw that in as an added bonus?" asked Angel.

"I need information at times," said Mirany. "Demons have an amazing amount of information on things that are happening if you know how to get it out of them."

"Remind me never to know about something that you want to know about," Angel muttered.

"Wow. Admitting that you're scared of me? And weaker than me if you think about it," said Mirany.

"It's healthy to be scared of something that is fairly formidable towards you," said Angel. "And I said nothing about you being stronger than me."

"Hate to break it to you, but you did," said Mirany. "Now, why are you here? What do you want? Why was it so important that you had to come and annoy me at my pub?"

"I wanted to know what you've done to my son," said Angel.

"What do you mean?" asked Mirany. "Nothing as far as I'm aware."

"He's always talking about you. He can't concentrate on anything except you anymore. I can't stop him. It's driving me insane."

"Angel, calm down," said Mirany. "That is not my fault. Haven't you ever had a crush before?"

Angel remained silent.

"Obviously not," said Mirany. "Well, that's just what this is. A crush. He's just got a bit of a thing of me."

"And just how long do you plan to draw this out for?" asked Angel.

"As long as I feel necessary," said Mirany. "At the moment, he's practically my slave. I'm not about to stop that. But don't worry. I'll get bored of it eventually."

"You've got a week before I draw the line," said Angel.

"Angel, I didn't cause this. The testosterone running through Connor caused this. I can't stop it without either breaking his yet-to-be-broken heart or entering into something that I'm not sure I'm ready to enter into yet. And either way, it might not stop it."

Angel groaned.

"Teenagers are so confusing," he muttered.

"What? You don't remember when you were a teenager?" asked Mirany. "I thought vampires had photographic memories."

"Yes but back when I was a teenager things were so much simpler because by that time, we were already married," said Angel. then he smirked. "All but me. Girls in my town were hags."

Mirany snorted with laughter.

"Well," said Angel, "up until Darla anyway."

"Oh please," said Mirany, "I don't need to hear your biography."

"But it's so interesting," said Angel.

"I'll live without knowing the details," said Mirany.

"Whatever you say," said Angel. "But remember, this is a once only opportunity. Won't come around again."

"As I said, I'll live," said Mirany pointedly.

"Your loss," said Angel, shrugging. "Can I just ask you to please make up your mind with this Connor thing quickly. If it goes on for much longer he'll end up getting himself killed. Probably by me."

Mirany smirked.

"End of the week," she said. "I'll try for that."

...

Mirany woke up in a bed that she wasn't familiar with at all, and a room that she was even less familiar with. There wasn't anyone lying beside her though so she took that as a good sign that she hadn't done something she would regret later. She got up slowly, testing both her body and her mind to make sure that she was stable enough to walk without too much pain.

Staggering slightly, she left the room and knew immediately where she was, but she wasn't too happy with herself. Making her way downstairs, she found Cordelia and Wesley conversing in the lobby.

"Can someone please tell me why I'm here and not at home where I should be?" asked Mirany. "Or at the very least, where my bike is?"

"Wow," Cordelia commented. "It's quite bright in here yet you don't seem to be affected. You bounced. Good job."

"Just how drunk was I?"

"Drunk enough that you could have had sex with a whole football team and not remembered it," said Cordelia.

"Thank you for that," said Mirany. "…Did I?"

Wesley and Cordelia laughed.

"No," said Wesley. "At least, we couldn't hear anything so we're assuming that you didn't. Although Connor might have…"

Cordelia and Wesley laughed harder at Mirany's look of horror.

"Calm down," said Cordelia. "Nothing happened. You were a little drunk and Angel decided that it probably wasn't a good idea for you to drive home. Vampires can hold their liquor a lot better than we can I'm afraid. He brought your bike back as well. It's outside."

"He left my Harley Davidson outside in plain view of everyone?" asked Mirany. "Where is he? I wanna give him a right kick up the…"

"Excuse me," said a man in the doorway, interrupting Mirany. "I was looking for Angel Investigations. Is this it?"

"This is the place," said Wesley. "Come in. Tell us your problem. Don't worry, no demon's too big or small."

"Unless it's a Dantish demon," said Mirany. "Then you'll have to go to Wolfram and Hart and they can spurt a heap of legal crap at the demon and it'll be so surprised by their nerve that it'll leave you alone on impulse. Trust me, if we can't do it, they definitely can."

"But, let's see if we can do it first," said Cordelia quickly. "We're a fair bit cheaper than Wolfram and Hart. And we _can_ deal with Dantish demons."

"But we'd rather not," said Mirany.

"Mirany, go upstairs again," Cordelia snapped.

"No, it's alright. My problem isn't a Dantish demon," said the man.

"In that case, come in, sit down, get comfortable. If you want any refreshments or something, Cordelia here will happily get them for you. Wesley, go get the boss for us. This'll show him for saying that I'm useless."

"Mirany, I really think you should go upstairs," said Cordelia forcefully.

"Alright," Mirany sighed. "Although I really do think you should get Angel before you accept a case. He might have personal connections and you really don't want him freezing up right before he goes to stake a vampire or something."

"Goodbye," said Cordelia pointedly.

"I'm going, I'm going," said Mirany, walking up the stairs and down one of the corridors. "Jeez, you'd think I was insulting them or something. All I did was tell them the truth. No one wants to fight a Dantish demon."

"Especially not you from what I heard," said Connor's voice from behind her.

Mirany turned and saw him leaning against the door.

"Did I…?"

"Walk straight past me? Yes," said Connor. "But don't worry. You had good reason. You were deeply immersed in your muttering."

"Sorry," said Mirany. "Just trying to remember what I did last night."

Connor chuckled.

"Want me to fill you in?" he asked.

"Do I?" asked Mirany suspiciously.

Connor considered.

"Probably not," he said. "It is a little embarrassing. I personally found it quite funny."

"Now, I know you weren't there. How can you know this?"

"Because I convinced dad to have a drink or two with me after he brought you back here," said Connor. "And by that time, he was definitely drunk."

"There goes the theory that vampires can hold their liquor," Mirany muttered.

"He'd had ten with you beforehand, and from what I could gleam, you'd had a fair few more than that. It's a wonder that you're even alive."

"I'm gonna take a wild stab and say that by that time, my collar had come undone," said Mirany.

"I don't…"

"How else would he have known about my Dantish encounter? I certainly wouldn't have told him. I still have a small amount of pride, although I have to say it's dwindling with every trip to that bar. I wouldn't have told him that I was almost defeated. What else did I do?"

Connor smirked.

"Apparently there was a bit of dancing on the table going on," he said. "As well as some heartfelt confessions but he wouldn't tell me about those."

"Wow, even when he's drunk Angel still knows that if he says some things he could end up fitting in an ashtray," said Mirany, impressed. "I must find out how he does that."

"I was wondering if you'd thought any more about…us?" asked Connor hopefully.

"Yeah," said Mirany. "But I'm still not ready yet. Don't push me to make a decision Connor because you might not like it. Let me decide in my own time, on my own terms."

"Right," said Connor. "Sure. Uh, just another question. How do you know about Wolfram and Hart?"

Mirany stared at him.

"You were listening to that too?" she asked. "Well, who hasn't heard of Wolfram and Hart? Me being me, I've been approached by them several times. They want to recruit me. I try to tell them I'm not interested but Wolfram and Hart really don't like to lose people like me."

"Those people being…?" asked Connor.

"Valuable assets," said Mirany. "I'm strong, rich and influential. Who wouldn't want to have me fighting for them? Anyway, how do _you_ know Wolfram and Hart?"

"They want dad, and me too if they can get me. But dad really doesn't like them."

"Yeah, I can see how he'd be a little peeved. Evil law firm trying to mess up his efforts for making amends," Mirany muttered darkly.

"It does put a bit of a dampener on things, doesn't it?" Connor commented.

"I HATE TO INTERRUPT WHAT I'M SURE IS A VERY PASSIONATE MOMENT BETWEEN YOU TWO, BUT I NEED YOUR OPINIONS ON THIS!" came Angel's voice from downstairs.

"First he witnesses me very, very drunk, then he leaves my bike outside where anyone could steal it, and now he embarrasses me in front of a complete stranger. He is going to be very, very sorry."

Connor smirked and pushed her back down the hallway.

"Save the killing for later. Let's find out what he wants."

Wesley, Cordelia, Angel and the man that had walked in were all sitting around the bottom of the stairs, waiting for them.

"What's up?" asked Mirany. "Were you lonely without me?"

"Hardly," said Cordelia.

"Before you two get into another cat fight, I want to know your opinions on this case," said Angel.

"Wow. He's asking our opinions. I feel special, do you feel special?" Mirany asked Connor sarcastically.

"I suppose so," said Connor, looking confused.

"Sarcasm just goes right over the top of your head, doesn't it?" asked Mirany.

"Anyway," said Angel loudly, "this is Mr Nathan Fowely. He's been dealing with Wolfram and Hart and they've just managed to trick him out of an item that he needs. It's very valuable and rare which is why they wanted it, but he needs it for reasons I won't bother you with."

"If Wolfram and Hart have got it, why aren't you there?" asked Connor.

"Because they won't give it back," said Fowely.

"Which is where we come in," said Angel. "Mr Fowely wants us to steal it back for him. He's willing to pay for all expenses and to help us in any other way he can."

"Let me get this straight. You want us to get into W.H. without being detected, find this thing, take it without setting off any alarms, then get out again?" asked Mirany.

"I just had a sudden image of myself in Mission Impossible," said Connor.

"No one said it was going to be easy," said Angel.

"Easy? It's going to be near impossible," said Mirany.

"I realize that what I'm asking is difficult and I understand why you don't want to take this on but-" started Fowely.

"Hey, I didn't say that," said Mirany, "I was just saying it was going to be hard."

"You think we should do it?" asked Angel.

"Hell yes!" said Mirany enthusiastically. "Whether we can do it or not, it'll peeve those stuck up bastards off so very, very much so I'm definitely in."

Angel smirked.

"Connor?"

"Hmm?" asked Connor, tearing his eyes away from Mirany. "What was the question?"

Angel growled softly.

"Do you think we should take the case?" he asked, the calm tone in his voice sounding quite forced.

"Oh, yeah. Whatever," Connor muttered, his eyes back on Mirany again.

Mirany smirked at Angel's annoyed look.

"Alright then. Mirany, Wesley and I will go back to Mirany's place and think up a plan. Cordelia, Connor and Mr Fowely will go shopping. We need clothes for us to blend in while we're in the building and something to go over the top of them if we need to get dirty."

"Why do I have to…?" started Connor but Cordelia glared at him and he decided against it. "Sounds like a plan."

"I feel I need to point out before we all split up that Wolfram and Hart have contacts everywhere. One slip of the tongue and this will all be over so be careful," said Wesley.

"Got it," said Cordelia. "No talking, which means cover story. Connor, your job. Oh, Mirany, I need your dress size."

Mirany swallowed.

"I'll get my own stuff," she said quickly.

Angel smirked.

"There's no need to be embarrassed," he said.

"I'm not telling you any more than you already know," Mirany snapped.

Angel laughed.

"I don't know that much," he said. "Only your deepest, darkest secrets."

Mirany whimpered.

"Let's go," said Wesley impatiently.

"I have to say I was impressed by your dancing skills," said Angel in Mirany's ear.

"Shut up," Mirany hissed as they left the hotel.

...

"Tell me why I agreed to ride on the back of your bike again," said Angel.

"Because if my bike had been at all damaged by someone who was passing by, I wanted to be able to torture you the whole way home."

"Remind me never to do so again," said Angel.

"With pleasure," said Mirany, scowling. "I think all that yelling deafened me."

"You poor baby," said Angel sarcastically.

"Can you two please quit it?" asked Wesley, scowling at them both.

"Sorry," Mirany and Angel chorused.

"Thank you," said Wesley. "Now do you think maybe we could get something done?"

"Sure," said Angel. "Let's get down to business. To start, we need the entire floor plan of Wolfram and Hart, including underground and concealed rooms and floors."

"Well, in that case, we're going to need a lot more brain power than any of the computers on this side of the house," said Mirany, leading them out of the room. "Follow me team. Oh, and if you tend to get lost in mazes, you may wanna bring some string."

"Where exactly are you taking us?" asked Angel.

"To a place where you will never go again," said Mirany. "If it weren't for the fact that this case is a top priority case, you wouldn't be seeing it anyway."

"This isn't a top priority case," said Wesley. "It's just top secret."

"Its top priority for me," said Mirany. "I've wanted to get back at that company for a long time now. This is how I'm going to do it."

"Get back at them for what?" asked Angel.

"Keep your nose out of places it doesn't belong," said Mirany pointedly.

"Okay, just wondering," said Angel. "Didn't mean to pry."

"Angel, the day you don't mean to pry, the devil will go ice-skating," said Mirany.

"What? You've never been ice-skating before?" asked Angel.

"Oh funny," said Mirany sarcastically. "I see what you mean about Connor. Man, that must be annoying. Is that why he's not with us?"

"Yes," said Angel. "I was not going to suffer through another bout of puppy love."

"I've still got six days," said Mirany. "I'm going to make them worthwhile."

"Oh please no," said Wesley. "They're both terrible. Connor's not functioning anymore and Angel's almost lost his mind because of it. Don't leave me dealing with that. I'll go insane as well."

"You'll find that my concern for your sanity is minimal," said Mirany coolly.

"Why? I haven't done anything to you," said Wesley indignantly.

"And besides, he's English," Angel added.

"You just want me to be concerned for his sanity so that I will do something about Connor's crush," said Mirany.

"Well, yeah," said Angel.

"No," said Mirany. "You said the rest of the week. And I didn't even really agree to that. I said I'd try for that. So it could be longer."

"Please Mirany, don't draw it out any longer than you have to," said Wesley. "For my sake."

"I'll think about it," said Mirany, unlocking a door and holding it open for them. "Now, enter a world which people like you two are unlikely to view for at least another 100 years."

"You have got to be kidding me," said Angel, looking around as he entered. "I feel like I'm inside a computer."

"Pretty much," said Mirany. "The computer is all around us in this room. There's more power here than is needed to launch a rocket."

"This is amazing," said Wesley. "Technology can't have advanced this far already."

"It has, only the public doesn't know about it," said Mirany, pulling on a pair of gloves and some dark glasses.

"How do you see out of those? It's dark enough already," said Angel.

"These aren't sunglasses Angel," said Mirany. "These allow me to translate binary."

"That probably would help," said Wesley.

"So, hacking the Wolfram and Hart computers to download floor plans without their notice," Mirany muttered, more to herself than to the others. "Difficult task. Lot of firewalls. What's that? Ooh."

Mirany was dashing around the room, typing at light speed on several different keyboards. The screen in front of Angel and Wesley, which stretched to cover the whole wall, was filled with numbers flashing at them for milliseconds before they were replaced by new numbers.

"So many trackers. Whoever's protecting their computers must have more power than this stuff."

"You think you can get past them?" asked Angel.

"Oh, I can get past them," said Mirany. "It just might take a little longer than I had expected."

"How long had you expected and how much longer will it take?" asked Angel.

"I had hoped for three minutes but it's looking more like five," said Mirany casually and Wesley and Angel raised their eyebrows at each other.

"I'm sure we can wait," said Angel.

"It doesn't sound like long to you, but with all this power, that's an exceptionally long time. W.H. has more protection on their information than the CIA does."

"Well, it doesn't help that they have a range of demons that can see into the future and design technology like this based off what they've seen," said Angel.

"That's cheating," Mirany muttered, scowling. "Hello. We've hit gold guys."

The screen changed to blue prints for the building.

"32 floors that are visible to the naked eye, seven that are underground, four that are on the top but that are invisible but all employees know about, two that only executives know about. Where to begin?" said Mirany, standing in front of the screen, hands raised.

"Bring up the seven underground and the four invisible but everyone knows about," said Wesley.

"Well, why not the two that not everyone knows about?" asked Angel.

"Executives don't deal with clients and prospective clients," said Wesley. "It's probably stored somewhere in floors that the general public doesn't have access to but all employees do have access to."

"That is the mark of a good investigator," said Mirany. "Logic. Okay then. That goes there. This goes over here."

Mirany pointed to various areas of the screen and flicked the images around.

"You really have too much money," Angel commented.

"I didn't buy this," said Mirany. "This was dad's idea. It's a secure line. He could talk to people about top secret things without worrying about hackers."

"Isn't the Wolfram and Hart sub-frame a secure line too?" asked Angel. "You breached that."

"How many people do you know that have technology like this?" asked Mirany pointedly. "W.H. are probably the only other people in the country at the very least that have this equipment and they would definitely know about anything top secret already anyway."

"You know what? Forget I asked and continue with the technological stuff," said Angel.

Mirany smirked and spread her hands to enlarge the images she had taken from the main picture.

"Okay. Well, I believe Wesley is right. There's seven storage units in all on these floors. Five underground, ranging in importance and value, two on the invisible floors, also ranging in importance and value. Which do we want?"

"I would assume that the more valuable objects would be in the invisible sections," said Wesley. "After all, if someone was living underground, they'd notice the underground rooms. So, now it's an issue over how valuable does it have to be before an object is valuable enough to skip going underground."

"Do we know what the object is?" asked Mirany. "You guys keep calling it 'the object' but if I'm going to be stealing it, I kinda need to know what it looks like."

"It's a disc," said Angel.

"What's so special about a disc?" asked Mirany.

"It's got information on it that's fairly valuable apparently," said Wesley. "Mr Fowely wouldn't tell us what."

"Probably because it's valuable and he doesn't want you guys to know any more than you need to know," said Mirany pointedly. "So we don't know how valuable the information is. That could be an issue. However, because I now know it's an information disc, I can probably find out which storage areas hold stuff like that."

"You really do have way too much money," said Angel, watching as Mirany brought up a screen of very small print and began too scroll through it. "Not to mention way too much time on your hands."

"I'll thank you to keep your big mouth shut if you don't mind," said Mirany, highlighting an area of text with a wave of her finger and enlarging it, then returning to the pictures and flicking a few to the top of the screen with the remainder of the blue-prints. "Okay, that leaves us with three storage units. Two underground, one above."

"Can you find out what's in each of the units?" asked Angel.

"Um, sort of," said Mirany slowly. "Wolfram and Hart have half covered their bases here. Instead of listing each thing by name, they've put everything into categories. I can tell you how many are in each of the categories but I can't tell you what they are. I think you'd find that they would catalogue things by name by writing them down when they were admitted into the units."

"We can plan around that," said Wesley. "If we can get into the underground areas, we can find out what's in what vault and if it's not in the underground ones we can figure out a way to get to the other unit."

"This plan is getting riskier and riskier by the second," Mirany pointed out.

"We'll think of something," said Angel confidently. "Right Wes?"

"We can try," said Wesley.

...

_"Are you two ready?"_ asked Wesley over the headset.

"Roger that," said Mirany. "Connor and I are ready to go."

"Tell me again why it's just us that are going in?" asked Connor. "We're teenagers. Won't we stand out?"

_"You two are the only ones going in because we need to minimise the amount of people on the team in that building,"_ said Angel. _"Anyway, you two are fast and strong. Just follow our instructions and you should be fine."_

_"Mirany, how will we know where you are?"_ asked Wesley. _"You said you'd show up as dots on this thing but I can't see you."_

"We're not in the building yet," said Mirany. "You won't be able to see us until we get inside. Remember, red dots are us, white dots are everyone else. The floors that we need to be on are enlarged at the bottom of the screen. They're the ones you really need to keep an eye on. We'll need to know if anyone's down there to come up with some sort of cover story."

_"Yes, I know,"_ said Wesley.

_"And Connor, don't worry about blending in,"_ said Angel. _"You will not stick out in that building, trust me."_

"Okay. Pep talk over. Let's go," said Mirany impatiently.

She and Connor entered the building. There were people and demons everywhere. It was little wonder why Angel had said they would blend in because compared to some of the crowd, they definitely looked normal.

"Okay, where are the elevators?" asked Connor, staring around.

_"There's a corridor to your left,"_ said Angel. _"There are three there."_

"Come on," said Mirany, dragging Connor out of the lobby, down the corridor Angel had indicated and into one of the elevators. "No down button of course."

She took a small electronic device out of her pocket and attached it to a small keypad that was next to the buttons. After a few seconds, four numbers flashed onto the screen and a range of new buttons appeared underneath the others.

"Excellent," Mirany muttered, jabbing at one of the underground levels. "Going down."

"So the plan is to simply break into whichever vault has the disc?" asked Connor. "How do we know which disc it is?"

_"I've been told that the disc is called Location. I would hope that they've filed it with that name,"_ said Wesley.

"Location for what?" asked Mirany.

_"I wasn't clued in on that,"_ said Wesley.

"Of course not," said Mirany as the lift doors opened. "Anyone outside?"

_"All clear,"_ said Angel.

"Let's hope it stays that way," muttered Connor.

_"Turn right into the corridor, then left at the first exit, left again and you should be there,"_ said Angel.

Mirany and Connor hurried down the corridor, following Angel's directions.

"You really think that whoever's watching the security cameras won't figure out that we're not supposed to be here?" asked Connor.

"Let's just stay positive," said Mirany. "I know you're a negative person but keep your hope-draining thoughts to yourself please."

They had reached the vault but there didn't seem to be any way to get in.

"Okay, now what?" asked Connor. "We're stuck. We can't get in."

_"You're standing right in front of the door,"_ said Angel.

"There's no door here," said Mirany.

"But there is a demon," said Connor, turning around.

"Of course there would be a demon while I'm in high heels," Mirany muttered.

"Least you've got a weapon then," said Connor.

"Not all high heels are pointy," said Mirany.

_"I told you to go for the Stilettos,"_ said Cordelia.

"Cordelia, so nice that you could join us," said Mirany sarcastically. "Now go away."

"Now's not the best time to talk Mirany," said Connor, ducking as the demon swung at him with its claws.

"Right, I knew that," said Mirany.

_"What does it look like?"_ asked Wesley.

"Uh, big," said Mirany, side-stepping the demon as it dived at her. "Green, spiky. Bit like a Dantish only bigger and scarier and with more teeth."

Connor kicked the demon hard in the mid rift and it crashed into the wall, but got right back up again.

"We need to get rid of this thing before security notices," said Mirany, shedding her shoes.

_"From your description I'd say it's a Lonfar demon. Go for it's legs,"_ said Wesley.

"Easier said than done," said Mirany, narrowly avoiding getting knocked out by the demon's tail as it swung towards her head.

"We don't have any weapons. We can't kill it," said Connor.

_"You're not supposed to,"_ said Angel. _"It's obviously the security for that vault. You have to subdue it but not kill it. Go for the legs."_

"What'll that do?" asked Mirany, trying to sweep the demon's legs out from underneath it.

_"Stun it,"_ said Angel. _"You only need to touch them. They're extremely sensitive."_

"We'll do that then," said Connor, grabbing hold of Mirany's shoes and throwing them at the demon's legs.

The demon collapsed and a door appeared in the wall in front of them.

"Okay, I'll admit that was smart," said Mirany, picking up the shoes and putting them back on.

_"Why didn't you wear the Stilettos?"_ asked Cordelia.

"Have you ever seen someone try to ride a motorbike in those?" asked Mirany. "It's not pretty."

"We're in luck," said Connor, flicking through a booklet of papers that was just inside the door. "Only problem is figuring out which disc it is. There are three discs here listed under Location."

_"Take them all,"_ said Angel. _"We can figure out which one's the right one when you get them back."_

"If we get them back," Mirany muttered.

"I thought we were keeping negative thoughts to ourselves," said Connor.

"_You_ were," said Mirany. "I never said anything about me having to. Wesley, have you disabled the alarms?"

_"Done and done,"_ said Wesley. _"Take what you want then get out as fast as you can. Look's like there's something going on at the moment in the lobby. Try to avoid it if possible."_

"Okay, let's go," said Mirany, grabbing the discs Connor indicated.

They made their way back down to the lift, amazed that they hadn't met a single person yet.

_"What's going on over there?"_ Angel muttered.

"Some vampire probably tried to get in or something," said Mirany carelessly. "We'll just be sure to avoid it."

_"I don't think that's what's happening,"_ said Wesley. _"A fair few people seem to be gathered around where you're about to come out."_

_"Maybe they just want to get into a lift,"_ suggested Cordelia.

"I don't think so," sighed Mirany, holding her hands above her head as the lift doors opened.

In front of them stood a young man of around twenty-five, with short brown hair and a thin stature, and a woman who looked slightly older than the man, thirty-ish, with shoulder length caramel coloured hair, dressed in suits, flanked by five or six security guards, all looking ready to beat them to a pulp.

"Hello Lilah," said Mirany, scowling at the woman.

"Mirany, pleasure to see you again," said Lilah coldly. "You've met Lindsay?"

"No," said Mirany shortly. "And I don't plan to. Me and my friend were just leaving."

She took a step towards the group and all the security officers tensed.

"You're not going anywhere," said Lilah. "Not until we've had a little chat."

_"Mirany, what's going on?"_ asked Angel.

"A chat about what?" asked Mirany. "You of all people should know that I'm a busy person and I don't have time for pleasantries."

"You'll make time," said Lilah simply.

"I'm sure you didn't mean for that to sound like a threat," said Mirany coolly.

"How do you know her?" asked Connor but Mirany ignored him.

"What do you want?" she asked Lilah.

"Simple," said Lindsay. "We..."

"If I want an amateur's opinion, I'll ask," Mirany snapped at him.

"I'm not..."

"SHUT UP!" Mirany yelled at him.

_"Can someone please tell us what's happening?"_ asked Angel.

"Not now," Connor hissed.

"I want to give you the chance to rethink our...proposition," said Lilah.

Mirany snorted softly.

"You wish," she said. "Now if you don't mind..."

She stepped out of the elevator and the security guards pounced. A few of them pulled out batons and the rest just swung with their fists. Before Mirany could react they had knocked her out, then they progressed to Connor, who was hit by a baton over the head a moment later.

...

Mirany groaned as she woke up, rubbing her head in pain.

"The day I don't get hit over the head will be a very happy day indeed," she muttered.

"Are you alright?" asked Connor, who looked like he'd been awake for a while.

"Yeah," Mirany sighed. "Where are we?"

"Lilah Morgan's office I presume," said Connor, picking up a name plate from a desk in the room.

"Oh. And here I was thinking that I wouldn't be bothered by Lilah again for a long, long time."

"You were the one that came here," Connor pointed out. "She probably just jumped at the chance to recruit a Slayer who she thinks is still killing people."

"Oh trust me, she knows that I'm not killing anymore," said Mirany. "We have any word from Angel or Wesley?"

"Nup," said Connor. "I don't know how long we've been here though. They might not think anything's wrong yet."

"You've been here for a little over ten hours," said Lilah, walking into the office. "You can imagine how bored I was with no one to talk to for that amount of time."

"You had your new boyfriend," said Mirany coolly. "Or are you having relationship issues as well?"

"You're having relationship issues?" asked Connor.

"According to a bartender, I'm having relationship issues with Angel," said Mirany, scowling.

"Lindsay is a colleague," said Lilah simply. "That's all."

"Sure, sure," Mirany muttered. "What do you want?"

"For you to reconsider my offer," said Lilah.

"What? Join you and become evil, evil and more evil?" asked Mirany. "I'll pass."

"You may want to think about what's at stake here Mirany," said Lilah. "I can have your boyfriend here tortured and will if I have to."

Mirany shrugged carelessly.

"Go ahead," she said.

"Hey!" said Connor indignantly.

"What I want to know before I have a think about your 'proposition,' which wasn't much of a proposition anyway, is how you knew we were here," said Mirany.

"Why wasn't it much of a proposition?" asked Connor.

"Because she kidnapped and tortured me," said Mirany. "The week before you lot came into the picture she tried to get me to join W.H. through fear. She failed, again. Now can I get an answer to my question please?"

"We found your motorbike parked outside the building," said Lilah. "Did you honestly believe you could just leave it there and not have it identified by us?"

"Well I had hoped," Mirany muttered. "What did you do with it?"

"Impounded it," said Lilah casually.

Mirany looked furious.

"You did what?" she hissed.

"Uh oh," Connor muttered.

"You did what?" Mirany repeated.

"You touched the bike," said Connor. "You're in for it now."

"Here's what's going to happen," said Mirany. "Firstly, you are going to restore my bike to the condition it was in when you found it, then you are going to let me and Connor walk out of here and leave us the hell alone. If you don't comply with these orders I will have no choice but to use force against you."

"You tell her," said Connor, impressed by Mirany's attitude now that someone had touched her Harley.

Mirany was glaring at Lilah, who hadn't moved at all.

"Now would be preferable," she said pointedly.

"I'll let you walk out of here this time Mirany Hunter but the next time you walk in here, you're not leaving until you're either in Wolfram and Hart's employ or you're dead," said Lilah.

"Oh now I'm scared," said Mirany sarcastically.

"You should be," said Lilah seriously.

"Oh trust me, I know," said Mirany.

They glared at each other for a while before Connor decided to break the silence.

"So...are we leaving or not?" he asked.

...

"Why do Wolfram and Hart have to annoy me?" asked Mirany. "Can't they find anyone else to annoy?"

"Obviously not," said Connor. "You weren't really going to let her torture me, were you?"

"Course not," said Mirany, avoiding his eye.

"You had a plan right?" asked Connor.

"Yeah," said Mirany, sounding as though she didn't believe it any more than Connor did.

"Yeah, very sincere," said Connor sarcastically.

"Well what was I supposed to do? Throw myself at her feet and beg her not to torture you?" asked Mirany. "I had to call her bluff. And she was bluffing. She wouldn't have tortured you. Angel's too big an asset to lose. Torturing his son probably isn't the best move."

"You make a fair argument," said Connor.

"I always make a fair argument," said Mirany simply. "Oh, and I've decided to put Angel out of his misery finally."

"What misery?" asked Connor.

"You and your crush," said Mirany. "I suppose I can give 'us' a shot."

Connor looked delighted.

"Really?" he asked.

"Connor, do I look like I'm joking?" asked Mirany.

"I honestly can't tell with you," said Connor.

"I'm serious," said Mirany.

"That's great. Now I can go back to teasing you without fear that you'll reject me," said Connor.

"Oh joy," Mirany muttered sarcastically.

"In all honestly though, thank you," said Connor. "I'm really glad you're willing to give it a shot."

"You shouldn't be," said Mirany. "If we break up, I'll make a mean ex."


	4. Complication

"Ow, that was my favourite spine," Mirany groaned, staggering away from the bell-bar.

"Then don't let it drop its guard," said Angel simply. "I don't know why you still wonder why you get beaten up in the graveyards. Stop turning your back, keep your hands up, keep your eyes open."

"Sorry," said Mirany indignantly. "I've been a little sleep deprived lately."

"Why?" asked Angel. "Been having a bit too much fun down at Dan's bar?"

"You're killing me," said Mirany sarcastically. "No. For your information, I've been trying to get my hands on something that is currently in the possession of someone in England. Unfortunately, there's a time difference. A big one. So I end up being the one that stays up until ludicrous hours of the morning because this guy's not stupid and he's decided that if I want this thing, I'm going to have to be the one that's inconvenienced."

"Then how come whenever I come over you're sleeping like a log?" asked Angel.

"Because I still need some amount of sleep, however small," Mirany pointed out, trying to crack her back into its normal state. "And you don't help, coming and getting me up. I think I've had about ten hours sleep this week."

"Get someone else to do the deal for you," said Angel.

"When you say it like that it makes it sound really simple," said Mirany darkly. "It's not."

"Well…too bad," said Angel. "Sometimes you're going to be tired when you're at the graveyard. Doesn't mean that the vampires will go easy on you."

Mirany scowled at him.

"One day I'm going to make you pay for times like this," she said.

"I look forward to it," said Angel coolly. "Now, keep your guard up and your eyes open and don't turn away this time."

...

"Connor, tell your dad to leave me the hell alone!"

Connor looked up as Mirany stormed down the stairs.

"Bad training session?" he asked.

"I'm not talking about it," said Mirany stubbornly, folding her arms and glaring at Angel as he followed her down the stairs.

"Oh grow up," Angel snapped. "This is exactly the sort of reaction I would have expected from a three year old."

"Well in that case, take me back to kindergarten then," said Mirany. "At least I won't have to deal with YOU THROWING WEIGHTS AT MY HEAD."

"Everyone just calm down," said Connor, but Mirany and Angel ignored him.

"WHY DON'T YOU GO AND COMPLAIN TO SOMEONE WHO CARES?" Angel suggested. "I'm sure there are more than enough POMS who would be happy to hear you whine. After all, that's what your country does BEST."

Mirany looked murderous.

"Excuse me?" she snarled. "TAKE. THAT. BACK."

"No," said Angel. "Because it's TRUE AND YOUR REACTION TO MY TRYING TO HELP YOU JUST PROVES IT."

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" yelled Connor.

Mirany and Angel both glared at him.

"Is this really necessary?" asked Connor. "Could you not just talk about this like civilized people?"

"No," said Angel, "because she won't listen to a word I say."

"Me?" asked Mirany indignantly. "You're the one that won't-"

"I DON'T CARE!" Connor yelled. "And if I have to raise my voice again you'll both regret it."

"You wouldn't dare," Mirany and Angel both sneered at him.

"Will you two please give it a rest?" said Connor. "Just separate, please."

Mirany and Angel both stood stock still.

"NOW!"

Angel scowled at him and Mirany before stomping into his room. Mirany poked her tongue at his back and flopped into a chair, Connor sitting down beside her.

"Are you happy now?" he asked.

"Yes," said Mirany. "I needed a good yelling match."

"You were about to have a good bloodbath to go with it," said Connor.

"Could use a good lot of bloodshed too," said Mirany murderously. "The bastard..."

"Hey, calm down," said Connor, brushing her fringe out of her eyes. "I don't want to know."

"Good, 'cause I don't wanna talk it," said Mirany. "But I don't want to calm down either. I just want to go home, get a little shut eye, then wake up at two in the morning to give a guy in England a good kick up the-"

"I'm not letting you drive while you're in this state," said Connor. "Calm down."

Mirany raised her eyebrows at him.

"You're finally getting assertive," she said. "Good job."

"Thanks," said Connor. "Wait, what? I've always been assertive."

"To your dad? No you haven't," said Mirany. "And not to me either really. You were scared of what might happen if you were."

"I was not," said Connor indignantly.

"I speak only the truth," said Mirany. "You thought your dad would kill you if you stood up to him and you thought I would kill you even more painfully if you stood up to me. Not to mention that I might have shot you down while you were trying to get me to go out with you."

Connor scowled at her.

"I am not scared of either of you," he said.

"Not anymore maybe," said Mirany. "But you were. Admit it."

"I'm admitting to nothing," said Connor, "because I have nothing to admit to. I am not, have never been, and never will be scared of you or dad."

Mirany smirked.

"We'll see," she said.

...

"Listen to me. I have had enough of you and your stalling. You've been playing me for weeks now and if you don't stop I'll have no choice but to take the sword from you by force. If I don't get that sword within the next two weeks I will assume you still have it and you don't want me to assume that Tom."

"Mirany, I can't give you the sword. There's someone else who wants it and they'll go to any lengths to get it. If I give it to you, I'll probably end up dead anyway."

"Not my concern," said Mirany to the enormous screen. "If you don't send me that sword, I'll be sending you letter bombs."

"I'll try my best but these people...They're-"

"I don't care who else wants it," said Mirany firmly. "I can out-spend the queen. You know my final offer is much more than what the sword is worth. Don't mess around with me any longer Tom. I'm a busy person. You've got two weeks. Goodbye."

Mirany cut the connection with Tom and his face disappeared from the screen. She was about to leave the room when a new face flickered onto it, one that she was all too familiar with.

"Lilah. What do I have to do to get you to leave me alone?" Mirany asked.

"You could kill me but then Angel might get angry with you," said Lilah.

"I doubt he'd be angry about me killing someone from your firm," said Mirany. "And I still have to wonder why an executive such as yourself is trying to recruit me and not someone like that Lindsay dude I met. I thought you lot just sat around tables, deciding who you should recruit and then sending in the troops to do your dirty work."

"Well, you already know one I would hope. There are others, none of which are any of your concern."

"They are if it could change whether or not I join Wolfram and Hart," said Mirany. "This is my soul I would be signing over."

"You have a very biased way of looking at Wolfram and Hart. Imagine what you could do with this company if you were a part of it Mirany. You could change it for the better. You could stop this firm from doing the things it does."

"You're not here to ask me if I want to take over Wolfram and Hart, which, if I was in your employ, wouldn't be my job anyway and we both know it," Mirany pointed out. "So just cut to the chase and tell me what you want before I cut to the chase for you."

"What I want is a yacht, a mansion like yours and a husband who doesn't mind if I bash him around a little, but I doubt that's what you meant," said Lilah and Mirany couldn't help smirking.

"You like it rough do you?" she asked.

Lilah looked slightly flustered.

"I would like to propose to you, a truce," said Lilah. "We'll leave you alone if you and your little gang of supernatural freaks leave us alone. Just for a while because I would still like to get you to join us. Say, a month?"

"What are you planning Lilah?" asked Mirany suspiciously. "You wouldn't be offering this up if you didn't have a very good reason. Are you afraid that we might stop W.H. from doing something that they probably shouldn't be doing?"

"I'm offering you a once only chance to keep me out of your life," said Lilah. "I'll even extend the offer to the whole Scooby Gang and make it two months."

"You really don't us mucking around with you," said Mirany, smirking. "What would you do if I said no?"

"Then you'd be condemning your friends to die," said Lilah.

"Ouch," said Mirany. "That's a little harsh."

"I've given you all the chances you'll get Mirany. If you're not going to play along, you're going to be disciplined the way Wolfram and Hart wants you to be. This is my final offer. Three months without anything happening to your team, one year without me trying to recruit you."

Mirany smirked.

"In one year I could disappear off the face of the earth," she said. "Or I could get killed. Or worse be turned completely good and then you've got no use for me. Why so generous?"

"I'll give you an hour to consult with Angel before I call back. When I call back I'll be expecting an answer, and it had better be the one I want."

"Hey, I'm the bad ass one here," said Mirany firmly. "You can't bully me around like that. I'm the one your new operation is obviously hanging on."

"You can't play me Mirany," said Lilah. "You may usually be the bad ass one, but the tables have turned and Wolfram and Hart's on top. I'll see you in an hour."

Before Mirany could say anything else, Lilah had cut the connection.

"There goes my hour of sleep," Mirany muttered.

...

_"A truce? But why?"_ asked Connor.

_"Obviously something big's about to go down,"_ said Angel. _"And Wolfram and Hart don't want us anywhere near it."_

_"Why can't we just lie?"_ asked Connor.

"You can't lie to Wolfram and Hart," said Mirany. "When you make a promise to them, you stick with that promise. They make sure of it."

_"So what do we do?" _asked Cordelia. _"If something big's going to go down, we obviously want to stop it. But if we don't agree to this chick's terms she'll likely kill us all and personally, I like being alive."_

_"We might all die anyway,"_ said Wesley. _"If this is so big that Wolfram and Hart are offering to leave us alone then it could well be fatal to us as well. Obviously not directly because that would breach Lilah's contract but the ripple effect of whatever she's planning might kill us. The fact that Lilah wouldn't try to recruit Mirany for a year is extremely suspicious. Mirany would make a huge asset to Wolfram and Hart. Lilah wouldn't just stop trying for a year. Mirany could do all sorts of damage in that time. There are just a few too many loopholes in Lilah's offer. Loopholes that if Lilah can use, I'm sure we can find a way to use them too."_

"But until we do, what do we do?" asked Mirany. "If Wesley's right then there's no point in us taking the offer."

_"But what if Wesley's wrong?"_ asked Cordelia.

_"Hey!"_ said Wesley indignantly.

_"I'm just throwing it out there,"_ said Cordelia.

_"Cordelia has a point,"_ said Angel. _"If Wesley is wrong and this thing won't kill us, what will it do? I want more details on this."_

"I can't get them," said Mirany. "She wouldn't even admit to something big happening."

_"Then how do you know that she's not just being friendly?"_ asked Cordelia.

"Can someone please insert a brain into Cordelia's head?" asked Mirany.

_"Wolfram and Hart employees are incapable of being friendly,"_ said Connor. _"I think Wes is right. I think we should take the deal and find a way to stop this thing anyway."_

_"I'm with Connor,"_ said Angel. _"We'll try and figure out what we can do while you talk to Lilah. Try and stall her though. See just how much you can get out of her."_

"Oh yay, battle of the brains with Lilah," said Mirany sarcastically. "This could get nasty."

_"Just try not to make it look like we asked you to get information. In fact, try and make it look like you haven't spoken to us at all. This is a secure line right? She doesn't know we're talking?"_ asked Wesley.

"Probably not," said Mirany. "I'll see what I can do."

_"Mirany, be careful. Don't let yourself get roped into anything else,"_ said Angel.

"Roger that Cap'n," said Mirany. "I'll call again later. Oh, by the way, don't call me if you want to talk about this. Your line's not secure. Mine is."

_"Got it,"_ said Angel. _"Talk to you later."_

Mirany hung up and checked her watch.

"Five minutes," she muttered. "Were we really talking for that long? Oh well, whatever. I guess it's a good thing. Don't have to wait for long at least. Come then Lilah, give me your best shot."

She paced up and down the room for the duration of the time and the moment the five minutes was up, Lilah was back on the screen.

"Ah, if it isn't my favourite evil person," said Mirany sarcastically. "Fancy seeing you on my computer screen."

"Quit stalling for time," said Lilah impatiently. "What's your decision?"

"Lilah please, give me a little credit," said Mirany, sounding insulted. "If I were stalling for time I would have made it much less obvious."

"Like now for instance?" Lilah pointed out. "Come on Mirany, I don't have all day."

"Well I do," said Mirany. "And I'm going to use it to my advantage because you obviously aren't going to do anything until I give you my decision."

"How about you leave your thoughts to yourself and just tell me what Angel's decision was?" Lilah suggested.

"Angel's...oh damn it. I was going to call him. I got to distracted. Connor's outside," said Mirany, grinning. "Man, he can snog. Have you ever tried snogging him? You really should, it's amazing. Although, you look more like the type to snog Angel. It would be just as good I suppose, seeing as they're father and son so it should be handed down and in that case I really should give Angel a try too-"

"MIRANY! Shut up!" Lilah snapped.

"Hey, I haven't had a good ramble in a long time," said Mirany. "I deserve to ramble every now and then. It's just your bad luck that you're the person I'm rambling to."

"If you don't have Angel's answer, give me yours then," said Lilah in a deadly calm tone.

"I don't have one," said Mirany and Lilah snarled. "You didn't give me enough time. Assuming that you are about to do something big, then it's difficult for me to decide whether to save my friend's lives and let what I'm sure is likely to be the rest of humanity die or whether to save the rest of humanity and let my friends die. I'm a teenage girl. You can't just dump that on me."

"I can try," said Lilah, scowling.

"Yes, but you failed," said Mirany. "Now, until I get more details about this thing that you're likely to do if I take the offer, I'm not going to be able to make up my mind. I won't ask you for the whole picture, but I might ask for the abstract one. Now, is it going to be fatal to the rest of humanity?"

"Hypothetically?" asked Lilah.

"Why would it be hypothetical?" asked Mirany.

"Because you don't know if I'm planning anything," said Lilah.

"Right," said Mirany. "Hypothetically."

"No," said Lilah. "Hypothetically speaking, if we destroy the rest of humanity, we would be out of business. As you know, Wolfram and Hart needs humans to stay afloat."

"Okay," said Mirany. "And, hypothetically, who would you be targeting?"

"I don't think that even in a hypothetical situation I would tell you something like that," said Lilah. "And don't think I can't tell that you're stalling again. Not to mention trying to get information."

"I'm just trying to get my facts straight," said Mirany.

"You have no facts Mirany," said Lilah. "You don't know what's going to happen. I'm not going to tell you anything about what Wolfram and Hart are planning."

"See, that's where you're wrong, because you just confirmed that Wolfram and Hart are indeed planning something," said Mirany.

Lilah looked furious.

"Why you-"

"Let's not start with that," said Mirany. "It's not my fault after all. You were the one that slipped up. Now, let's go back to the hypothetical situation and-"

"Mirany, you have two minutes to give me an answer," Lilah snapped. "If I don't get an answer I will not rest until I have forced you into joining Wolfram and Hart and then you'll be helpless towards me and before you know it, you'll have watched all your friends die at your hand."

"Jeez, calm down," said Mirany. "My god, you can get mad. Look at you. Your eyes are practically popping out of their sockets. You know, you'll get wrinkles."

"Mirany..."

"Alright," said Mirany, throwing her hands up in defeat. "Fine. I'll hold you to your offer but after the three months are up, I don't want to have to wait out the rest of a year before I can shoot you down again so let's cut that last part of the agreement alright? And actually, let's make the duration of the truce just that little bit less time. I reckon maybe a week. I just can't help it Lilah. It's so much fun seeing the look on your face everytime I annoy you."

"We're not going to be ready in a week," Lilah snapped.

"Ah," said Mirany. "So, not only are you planning something, but you need time to pull it off. That's interesting."

Lilah was growling like a wounded bear now.

"Look, I don't know what you're planning, and honestly, I don't care," said Mirany. "But if you think that I'm going to let you walk all over me and do what you want without me getting in the way, you are sadly mistaken. Angel told me to take this deal-"

"So you did talk to Angel?" asked Lilah.

"Of course I talked to Angel. I'm not _that _into Connor," said Mirany. "Now, as I was saying, Angel told me to take this deal, but now that I'm talking to you, I just can't. There's too much at stake here and I'm not letting you get away with whatever it is that you think you can get away with. You coming to me and offering this truce means that you think I can figure out what you're doing and that I can stop it. And your threats about killing the rest of my team are empty threats because you need them as much as you need me. Vampire with a soul, _son_ of vampire with a soul, Watcher, and bitch of the year. You could find something for all of them to do that would help your company a great deal. I'm sure the Senior Partners would not be happy with you if you lost any of them."

"How do you know about the Senior Partners?" Lilah snapped.

"You should get better mind readers," said Mirany. "Because there are more than a few of the people in your company that have loose lips when their palms are well greased. Now, the next time you're on this screen had better be so that you can try to recruit me again rather than toy with me. You've done that before and you've won, but not this time. This time we play by my rules."

Lilah smirked.

"You better make sure that your rules don't backfire then," she said.

"You and I Lilah. One day, we'll be fighting to the death. You better be prepared to lose."

"The day we fight to the death Mirany, will be your last," said Lilah. "And be careful what you wish for. That day may be closer than you think."

"Three months, I know," said Mirany.

"Well done," said Lilah. "You've won again. Just remember this, in three months time, that day's going to come, and you're going to go out with a bang."

"So you're planning some kind of explosion then?" asked Mirany.

Lilah smiled mysteriously.

"Like you said, I know you'll figure it out."

The screen went blank as Lilah cut the connection. Mirany sat down and lent back in her chair, thinking over Lilah's final words, wondering just what she had in store for her.

...

"You didn't take it?" asked Cordelia. "She's going to kill us."

"No she's not, were you not listening?" said Mirany. "She needs all of us. We all have a role to play in her scenario. Today wasn't about you lot at all. Today was about whether or not I would be even more useful than she had expected. I gave her that much. But we have three months to figure out what Wolfram and Hart are going to do and how to stop it."

Mirany had left out the part about Lilah and herself. She felt that Angel and his team didn't need to be clued in on that just yet, but something must have been playing on her face because Connor was giving her a look that clearly said he could see through her mask.

"Lilah hinted towards an explosion of some kind," said Mirany. "A bang at the very least."

"Could be referring to anything that makes a loud noise," said Angel. "But it's something to go on which is good. We'll ask around a little. See what you can get from your contacts, I'll see what I can get from mine."

Mirany nodded.

"I could use a fight," she said. "I'm gonna go patrolling."

"I'll come," said Connor at once, getting to his feet. "See you later yeah?"

"We'll be here," said Angel.

Connor followed Mirany out of the lobby and stopped her before she could climb onto her bike.

"What's the matter?" he asked. "Something's wrong. What's up?"

"While Lilah and I were talking," said Mirany, "we happened to mention the day that it would just be us and that it would be a bad fight. But Lilah really meant it. I could see it in here eyes. She really, really meant it."

"Listen," said Connor. "I don't know what was said exactly, but you shouldn't let it worry you, not yet. I'm assuming that this day will be the day Wolfram and Hart does whatever it is that it's going to do?"

Mirany nodded.

"You've got time," said Connor. "We'll figure it out. It'll be okay."

"Yeah, that's what they all say," said Mirany.

"I mean it," said Connor. "Look at my eyes. Do these eyes lie?"

Mirany smiled.

"No," she said.

"I won't let anything happen to you," said Connor. "I promise. We'll figure it out and we'll stop this. You have to believe that."

Mirany nodded and Connor smiled.

"Good," he said. "Now, let's go kill some vampires."


	5. Dreams

Mirany rolled around fitfully in her sleep, moaning incomprehensible words to herself.

_The vampire crept slowly closer to her, never taking his eyes off his prey. He stepped on something and the girl turned, smirking._

"_Honestly, did you really think you could scare me by sneaking up on me with your game face on? You do know that if you keep doing it, I'm not going to react, right?"_

_The vampire didn't answer._

"_Brett?"_

_There was a look in the vampire's eyes now, a look that told her quite clearly that she was going to be his next victim._

"No, no," Mirany muttered, tossing wildly.

_The girl screamed as the vampire dived on her._

Mirany jerked awake, yelling in horror.

…

"_It sounds like a nightmare Mirany,"_ said Angel.

Mirany sighed. This was the fourth time he had said it.

"But it can't have been," she said. "It was so real. It was too real. I know when I've had a nightmare and this wasn't one of those times."

"_Mirany, how much did you drink last night?"_ asked Angel.

"What has that got to do with anything?" asked Mirany indignantly. "Someone is going to die Angel. I can feel it."

"_Mirany, what you can feel is the after effects of a hangover,"_ said Angel. _"Come round if you really want to, but we're not going to say anything different to you than what I've been saying for the past twenty minutes."_

"Angel, I've had these sorts of dreams before," said Mirany. "Trust me, it wasn't a nightmare. That girl is going to die, probably tonight."

"_Then go and find her,"_ said Angel exasperatedly. _"If you honestly think this is going to happen, give me proof. Find the girl and ask her if she has a vampire as a friend or something, and if she doesn't, then it was just a dream."_

"I can't find someone I don't have a name for," said Mirany. "I've barely even got a description. I wasn't exactly taking that in at the time."

"_Look, I can't help you,"_ said Angel. _"You're having bad dreams and I can't stop them. Why are you calling me?"_

"Because they're not bad dreams," said Mirany insistently. "I'm telling you that this dream is going to happen and when it does, it'll be on your head if you don't help me."

"_Mirany, I can't do any more than you can,"_ said Angel._ "You're going to have to stop it yourself, wait until someone finds the body, or admit that you had a little too much to drink last night and that this dream was just a byproduct of the alcohol."_

"Do I have to spell it out for you?" asked Mirany angrily. "T-h-i-s-space-w-a-s-space-n-o-t-space-a-space…"

"_Mirany, stop,"_ said Angel firmly. _"Don't be so stupid. I can't help you."_

"Put Wesley on then," said Mirany.

"_What? Mirany, Wesley won't be able to help you either,"_ said Angel.

"He's been a Watcher, he knows more about my powers than you do," said Mirany.

"_I seriously doubt that,"_ said Angel.

"Just put him on," said Mirany impatiently.

Angel sighed and Mirany heard him calling for Wesley. She knew he was being stupid. It hadn't been an ordinary nightmare. Sure, it scared her half to death, but it certainly wasn't the byproduct of too much beer, although she could feel the hangover kicking in. She had had one other dream like this before, and it had come true. She hadn't known what it was, had thought it was a nightmare at the time, so when the headlines in the newspaper showed the face of the little boy that she had seen killed in her dream, she knew something was up. Sine then she hadn't had the dreams, and it had been nearly three years, but they were back, and although she didn't know why, she knew she couldn't let them come true again.

_"Mirany?"_

"Wesley, Angel won't listen to me and if anyone's going to know about my powers it's going to be you," said Mirany. "I had this dream last night about a woman being killed by a vampire. It was so real and I know it wasn't just a bad dream. I've had one before and it came true and I need someone's help."

_"You've only had one other dream like this before?"_ asked Wesley. _"Prophetic dreams are generally the first powers a Slayer gets."_

"Look, I don't care," said Mirany. "But you know I didn't just have a nightmare because I drank too much, right?"

_"Of course Mirany. This is serious. I'll tell Angel about this and we'll patrol everywhere we can think to go tonight. We'll talk about it here."_

"I'm way ahead of you," said Mirany, climbing onto her motorcycle. "See you soon."

...

"Okay," Angel sighed, walking back into the hotel, Mirany and Connor traling behind him. "I'll admit that you were right this time. But only this time. Never again will you hear me say that you were right."

"Yes I will," said Mirany.

"Well, seriously, did you honestly expect me to believe that you would be able to predict the future from your dreams?" asked Angel.

"Plenty of people can do it," said Wesley. "It's just that most people don't remember those dreams until they're actually in them."

"I didn't need your input," said Angel, scowling at Wesley.

"I think it's cool," said Connor. "Imagine if you could harness that sort of power. You could see whatever you wanted to."

"Knowing the future isn't a gift Connor," said Wesley. "It's a burden. Knowing what's going to happen can be a terrible thing, particularly if there's just no way of stopping it."

"Look, I don't care whether it's a burden or a gift or just another freaky thing I can do," said Mirany. "I haven't had one of those dreams in three years. Why am I having another one?"

"Maybe the first one was a test run and now the Powers That Be think you're ready for another go," said Angel.

"The what?" asked Mirany.

"The Powers That Be," said Angel. "They chose who's going to be the Slayer every time one needs to be called and they do a whole lot of other stuff that nobody really knows about. They're like God, I suppose."

"Oh," said Mirany. "Well, I'm not ready. Tell them to take them back."

"You don't talk to the PTB's," said Connor. "They talk to you. They want you to have these dreams now, so that's what's going to happen. You can't argue with them. They've got more power than this world could generate."

"And to think I thought you were getting better at not being negative," said Mirany.

"I'm not being negative," said Connor. "I'm just stating fact."

"In a negative way," said Mirany.

"Okay, stop before someone gets hurt," said Angel. "You have these dreams now. There's nothing you can do about them. Go home, get some rest."

"I can't," said Mirany.

"What do you 'you can't?'" asked Angel. "What? You don't ahve a bed anymore or something?"

"I can't go home," said Mirany. "My bike got flattened by your back, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Well it's not my fault the demon had a lot of strength," said Angel defensively. "I guess that means you want to stay here then, doesn't it?"

"That would be nice," said Mirany.

Angel sighed.

"Mirany, why do you have to be a bother at the worst times?" he asked.

"You can sleep in my room," said Connor, stopping the arguement that was sure to occur if Mirany opened her mouth to retaliate. "Come on. We'll see you tomorrow."

Connor had to pull Mirany away from Angel, who she was currently glaring at with a burning hatred, and up the stairs. The moment Angel was out of sight, she had calmed down.

"You and dad have some serious issues you need to sort out," said Connor.

"I don't think that's possible," said Mirany. "See, he's a bastard and I don't like bastards and neither of these things will ever change so we're always going to fight with, and hate each other. We'll never be able to sort it out."

"Could you try?" asked Connor.

"No," said Mirany simply.

Connor sighed exasperatedly as he led Mirany into his room.

"Bed's in there," he said, gesturing into an adjoining room. "I'll be out here."

"What? No, I can't take your bed," said Mirany.

"We could share," said Connor, grinning as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Get your mind out of the bedroom," Mirany snapped.

"Hey," said Connor, letting go of her and holding his hands up in defence. "Don't bite my head off Mirany. I'm just kidding."

"Yeah sure," said Mirany.

"Where did the surly attitude come from?" asked Connor indignantly. "Two seconds ago you were all sensitive."

"Just...never mind," said Mirany, turning into the room. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night," said Connor, staring after her in confusion.

"Night," Mirany snapped, slamming the door behind her.

...

"What were you two arguing about last night?" asked Angel as Connor walked down the stairs into the lobby.

"Nothing," Connor grunted.

"Must have been something," said Cordelia. "Even I heard the door slam."

"No, I mean literally, nothing," said Connor. "I don't know. Mirany was fine then all of a sudden she was angry."

"Understandable really," said Cordelia. "She's obviously never been in a relationship before. You probably freaked her out when you did whatever it was that you may have done."

"All I did was hold her around the waist. I do that all the time," said Connor.

"She's the Slayer," said Angel. "Slayers have mood swings. They have a lot on their shoulders. They can't always handle it. And Mirany's even worse. She's unstable at the best of times. Your actions plus everything else plus me hurting her bikes were probably just that little too much to bear and she snapped. She'll be fine when she wakes up."

"If you're talking about me then you're wrong," Mirany snapped as she staggered down the stairs. "Why's it so bright in here? Is it always this bright?"

"You haven't drunken anything for the past 24 hours, how can you still have a hang over?" asked Angel.

"I don't," said Mirany. "I just woke up. It shouldn't be bright. Brightness has to wait until I'm fully a disawake."

"You'll live," said Angel.

"Wouldn't count on it," Mirany growled, sinking onto a couch.

"How are you?" asked Connor.

"How does it look like?" Mirany snapped at him.

Connor looked at Angel and Cordelia. Angel shrugged, clueless, Cordelia was watching Mirany closely and didn't notice. She had a strange look on her face, as though she knew something that no one but she and Mirany knew. Mirany was getting to her feet.

"I suppose I'd better go and call someone to come and pick me and my Harley up," she muttered.

"There's a phone in my office," said Angel and Mirany disappeared into the side room.

"See?" asked Connor. "I don't even know why she's pissed."

Cordelia had a smug look on her face now.

"You know, don't you?" asked Angel.

"Of course I know," said Cordelia. "I'm a female too. I know exactly what's going on in her head."

"Well?" asked Angel.

Cordelia looked at the pair of them, amused.

"I can't tell you," she said. "That's breaking the female code of silence. You're gonna have to find out from her. I can't tell you stuff about her life unless I have permission from her, which I don't."

"Come on Cordy," said Connor. "I don't know how long I'll survive this."

"I can talk to her," said Cordelia. "That's as much as I can do."

"Then do it," said Angel.

"And do it before she kills me," said Connor.

...

"I'm not training with you," said Mirany firmly. "It always ends up in me either getting severely beaten up or me fainting from exhaustion."

"Mirany don't be stupid," said Angel. "We both know that you're wrong. Now get off your ass and come and train."

"My car will be here soon," said Mirany quickly. "I should stay down here in case it's early."

"Four hours early?" asked Angel, smirking at her. "I don't think so."

Mirany scowled at him.

"Fine," she snapped, getting to her feet grudgingly.

"Connor's going to train with us too," said Angel.

Mirany growled.

"What's up Mirany?' asked Angel. "Why are you acting like this to Connor?"

"You wouldn't understand," said Mirany.

"I might," said Angel.

"Angel, just piss off, alright?" she snapped. "Leave me alone."

"Wow, must be that time of month," Angel muttered.

Mirany didn't pause. She slammed her into his stomach and he flew across the room, landing hard on the ground on his back.

"Just warming up," said Mirany in a dangerously sweet voice as Angel groaned, pushing himself painfully to his feet.

"You need some serious help Mirany," he snapped. "Get a hobby or something. Stop taking out your anger on the people around you."

...

"Why did you want to come back with me?" asked Mirany, stretching out on the car seat opposite Cordelia.

"I was just wondering if we could chat," said Cordelia.

"'Bout what?" asked Mirany.

"About you, and Connor," said Cordelia. "And what's going on."

"Nothing's going on," said Mirany. "Everything's fine."

"Oh please Mirany, you've been tearing his every sentence to pieces," said Cordelia. "We both know what's going on. I want to know why. Why are you scared Mirany?"

"What?" asked Mirany quickly, opening her eyes and staring at Cordelia. "I'm not scared."

"Yes you are," said Cordelia.

"Afraid of what?" asked Mirany.

"Committing. Opening your heart. Admitting that you might love someone," said Cordelia. "I know it all Mirany. I've been there, I've done that. I still do it."

"Is it really that obvious?" asked Mirany.

"Not for guys," said Cordelia. "But because I know what's it's like, I picked it up. Why?"

"I just...I don't know," said Mirany. "I'm just not sure what to do. We've sort of gotten to that point."

"What point?" asked Cordelia.

"You know. If you go any further, you're saying that you commit, that you love them, but if you don't go any further, you end up fizzling out. I don't know what to do."

Cordelia smirked.

"Oh, that point," she said. "Well, do you want to fizzle out?"

"No," said Mirany.

"But you don't want to commit either?" asked Cordelia.

"I don't know," Mirany moaned. "Relationships are so confusing."

"I know what you mean," said Cordelia. "But if you don't commit soon, you will fizzle out. Connor doesn't know what's going on."

"Neither do I," Mirany sighed.

"Yes you do," said Cordelia. "You know exactly what's going on, you just told me."

"Not about the same relationship anymore," said Mirany.

"Which relationship then?" asked Cordelia.

Mirany sighed.

"Lilah called me yesterday," she said.

"Oh," said Cordelia. "Did you shoot her down in the usual fashion?"

"Yeah," said Mirany. "But not before...never mind. It doesn't matter. I shouldn't be talking to you about it anyway."

"Mirany, what happened?" asked Cordelia. "Lilah didn't say that she wanted to date you, did she?"

"No," Mirany snapped. "Ew. Gross. No, nothing like that."

"Then what?" asked Cordelia.

Mirany bit her lip.

"Lilah and I...we're...I'm...her sister."

Mirany mumbled the last word so quietly that Cordelia didn't catch it.

"What?" asked Cordelia. "I didn't catch that last one."

"I'm her sister," said Mirany quickly, thinking that if she said it fast, it wouldn't sound quite so bad.

Cordelia stared at her in shock.

...

Mirany sighed as she closed the door behind her, leaving Cordelia in the car so that she could go back to the hotel. Cordelia had remained remarkably silent for the rest of the drive back to Mirany's place. Mirany knew that the moment she got back to Angel, her tongue would loosen and soon she would receive the inevitable call from Angel. She was imagining what he would say as she walked into the mansion and to her favourite room.

_'Why didn't you tell me?'_

_'I didn't think it would matter.'_

_'What do you mean you didn't think it would matter? It definitely matters.'_

_'Angel, I'm sorry alright. What do you want me to say?'_

Mirany slammed her bedroom door and collapsed onto her bed. After a few moments of unwelcoming thoughts about Lilah and Angel and Connor, she fell asleep.

...

_The explosion was enormous, but the shock wave was the worst. People were thrown off their feet, buildings shook ominously, plants were uprooted, and the screams filled their ears. They tried to run towards the explosion, but the energy that it had let off was a huge amount and the air was so hot that they couldn't get any closer than they already were. That was when the second explosion went off, and this one was far too close to home. Angel, Connor and Mirany were thrown off their feet and landed metres away from where they had been, where they stayed, unconscious, with Lilah watching from a safe distance._

...

The phone rang and Mirany jerked awake, staring around wildly. She knew what she had seen. That was what was going to happen in a few months time. LA was sure to be destroyed. She hadn't even seen the rest of the dream, the phone had woken her before she could. She took a few moments to calm herself down. She could think about the dream later. Someone wanted to talk to her now.

_"Why didn't you tell me?"_ asked Angel's voice as she picked up the phone.

"Tell you what?" Mirany sighed wearily.

_"You know perfectly well what,"_ Angel snapped.

The doorbell rang through the house.

"Oh, sorry, someone's at the door, gotta go," said Mirany quickly, hanging up before Angel could argue and hurrying out of her room.

The dream had scared her terribly. Was that her future? Was that what was going to happen to her? Was she going to be blown to pieces, with Lilah just standing there, watching her die? She was her sister. She wouldn't do that would she? It was Connor at the door.

"Mirany I..."

Before Connor could finish his sentence, Mirany had flung her arms around his neck, breaking down on his chest. Connor was so surprised it took him almost a minute to recover from the initial shock of Mirany's actions.

"Mirany, what's wrong?" he asked.

Mirany didn't answer. She couldn't bring herself to spread the misfortune that was going to happen to them.

"It's alright Mirany," said Connor consolingly. "It's okay."

"I love you," Mirany whispered in his ear. "I love you so, so much."

Connor stroked her head until she stopped crying.

"What happened Mirany?" he asked. "What's wrong?"

Mirany shook her head.

"Not yet," she muttered. "One day, not yet."

Connor didn't try to understand. He knew he probably never would.

"Come with me," said Mirany, taking his hand and pulling him into her home.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"You'll see."

...

When Mirany played the piano, she lost herself in the music. It was the only thing that really calmed her. She could do anything with it, go anywhere with it. The piece she was playing had completely taken her over. She felt as though she was water, moving at different speeds, with different amounts of ferocity. Soft and loud, fast and slow, happy and sad, angry and calm, fearful and confident. The music made her feel special. Made her feel alone, but in a good way. When she finished, Connor could do nothing but stare in amazement.

"How long have you been playing?" he finally asked.

"A while," said Mirany. "It's the only thing that really makes me feel right."

"It's amazing," said Connor. "You're amazing. I...words don't describe that sort of music."

"They never do," said Mirany, resting against his chest. "Words are just us trying to describe something that we can't. Words are just...words. Don't take them too seriously, alright? There are going to be times when I'm going to try to rip you apart. I'm going to be insulting and cruel and violent. But don't mean it Connor. I love you and I don't want to push you away or give you the wrong impression. I'll be stressed sometimes, and I'll be mean. But don't take it to heart alright?"

Connor smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"Never," he said. "I love you Mirany. Nothing will change that. Not even you."

_Will death?_ Mirany wondered. _Will death change anything? Will it change everything? I can't let this happen. There's too much at stake. Too much to lose._


	6. Splitting Up

Mirany swallowed in fear as the vampire entered her cage, leering at her. Her shirt hung loosely from her shoulders, unbuttoned, revealing her burnt, scarred chest and stomach. Her wrists were bleeding from where the serrated metal cuffs of the chains had cut into her skin and her neck ached from the still healing puncture wounds left by the fangs of the last vampire. The new vampire grinned at her, showing pointed fangs. This one was male, tall and buff, with short, crazy black hair and a slightly manic gleam to his eyes. Mirany knew perfectly well that that couldn't be a good sign.

Had Mirany been able to summon the strength to fight off the vampires that kept coming in, she would have, but she was weakened by the torture, not to mention that she had seen for herself that the only exit was through the club that happened to be constantly packed full of vampires, morning and night, though it was the day time that was worse for her when it came to the torture. She had seen some of the horrors going on in that place, and she preferred her chances where she was. At least the vampires that came to hurt her had to pay big bucks or be quite high up on the social ladder. This vampire was clearly from the latter grouping. He certainly looked like he could have contacts and friends in every corner of LA.

Mirany eyed him wearily. She wasn't picking up any vibes that he wanted to sexually harass her, but that meant that he wanted to physically harass her instead. And sure enough, he was running his finger over all the different torture implemenst on the wall, trying to decide what would do the most damage to her.

"You're a pretty one, did you know that?" he asked her, pulling a large knife off the wall. "They never have pretty ones any more. I'm so glad they found you."

He pulled a blowtorch off the wall too.

"I had almost given up on this place," he continued. "It was always vampires or weak humans lying where you are now. They just weren't right. The vampires didn't taste good and the humans just died all the time. But you're so much more."

He ran a long finger down her cheek as he lit the blowtorch and Mirany flinched slightly.

"You're a Slayer. Your blood tastes good yet you don't die with the first cut. You're the perfect mix."

Mirany whimpered as he held the knife in the flame.

"And the other one over there is pretty good too," said the vampire, gesturing wiht his head towards Connor's cage. "But it is male. What can I say? I prefer the females, even if the males are more attractive at times."

Mirany tried to squirm away from the vampire as he turned off the torch and beared down on her, but with her arms chained above her head the way they were, she couldn't get very far. She wanted to lash out at him, to kick the red hot knife right out of his hand, but she knew that would not end up well. She was at his mercy.

"Feel free to scream," said the vampire.

Mirany did just that.

...

"Connor?" Mirany groaned.

Mirany was having trouble seeing out of one eye. Blood had trickled into it from a cut on her forehead and it had started to crust over now. Her skin was seared and her chest, legs and arms were throbbing with pain.

"Mirany. Are you alright?"

Connor's voice sounded strained. He had been doing a bit of yelling too.

"Connor, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I got you into this mess."

"Don't worry about it Mirany," said Connor. "Just, tell me that you're okay. Please."

"No," Mirany squeaked. "No, I'm not gonna lie to you."

"Mirany, we'll get through this. We'll get out of here," said Connor.

Mirany gave a weak chuckle, but it gave off no hint of amusement.

"We can't get out," she whimpered. "This is it. We won't leave here alive Connor."

"Don't say that Mirany. Don't give up on me. You have to be strong. I know it's hard. It's just as hard for me as it is for you. But we have to do it. We'll never get out of here otherwise. Come on Mirany. Please. For God's sake, stop thinking about what could go wrong and start thinking about what could go right."

"Alright," said Mirany. "But we still can't do anything. We're trapped. The only way out is through a huge crowd of vampires."

"We'll figure something out. Just, stay strong for me. Do that for me Mirany. Please."

Mirany didn't know if he had said anything else after that. All the pain and anguish she had suffered through was finally taking its toll on her and she fell unconscious.

...

Mirany didn't even need to open her eyes to know that her situation had changed while she had been asleep. Whatever was underneath her back was soft and warm rather than the cold stone she had been on for the past three days, and her arms were definitely not above her head any more. She had been cleaned up to some extent. She couldn't feel the dried blood on her face, arms and legs any more. Whatever had happened, it was for the better, not the worse. She opened her eyes slightly and was relieved to find that she was in a dark place.

"Thank God you're awake," Angel muttered. "You've been asleep for ages."

Mirany started wildly and groaned in pain as she moved.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," said Angel. "Oh, you shouldn't move too much."

"What happened?" asked Mirany.

"We found you," said Angel simply. "You were lucky enough to have someone witness your brave attempt at saving a few humans. They came to us, we came to you."

"What took you so long?"

"They came an hour before we got you," said Angel. "It took them three days to come to us."

"Oh. Who was it?"

"Doesn't matter," said Angel quickly. "Can I see your chest?"

Mirany stared at him for a moment before sighing.

"Sure, why not? It's not as though you'll be the first vampire to see it," she muttered.

She moved to undo her shirt but had to bite down hard on her lip to stop herself from crying out in pain.

"Oh yeah, it's probably best you don't move much," said Angel. "They injected something into you. Said it made you feel pain even when you only moved slightly. Apparently their customers enjoy the screaming."

He sounded disgusted.

"How did you get us out?" asked Mirany.

"I came as a customer," said Angel, awkwardly beginning to unbutton Mirany's shirt. "It was the only way I could get in without being noticed."

"Oh," said Mirany. "Right."

"Tell me if it hurts okay?"

Mirany nodded and immediately wished she hadn't. Angel traced his finger over a few of the wounds, he face masked.

"I should've killed them," he muttered. "I should have killed every last one of them."

Mirany had never seen him that before and it scared her. Even though he was trying to control it, his face gave away his anger and loathing of the vampires that had taken her and Connor. He traced over a newer cut and Mirany flinched away slightly.

"Sorry," he muttered, snapping out of his trance and doing her shirt back up. "You're healing fairly well, that's a good sign."

"How long until this pain stuff wears off?" asked Mirany.

"It's worn off Connor already," said Angel. "Only a few hours."

"How is he?" asked Mirany.

"He's fine," said Angel. "He's catching up on a bit of sleep then he'll be up here. He's really worried about you."

"I put him in danger," said Mirany. "Terrible danger."

"Mirany, he doesn't care," said Angel. "He just wants to know that you're okay."

Mirany sighed.

"He shouldn't," she muttered.

"He does," said Angel. "Mirany, Connor doesn't hold a grudge over something like this. He came with you voluntarily. As far as he's concerned, it wasn't your fault."

"What about you?"

"I think you should have talked to me before you went," said Angel. "But I don't blame you either."

"Caring, forgiving, understanding bastards," Mirany muttered. "Why can't you just hate me?"

Angel smirked.

"You can't get rid of us that easily," he said.

There was a tap on the door and a moment later it opened.

"I thought you were sleeping," said Angel.

"Couldn't," said Connor. "Not with my girl like this. I heard you talking so I figured you'd woken up."

"Connor are you...?"

"I'm fine Mirany," said Connor before she had completed her sentence. "Really, I'm alright. Are you?"

"She's had the pain stuff injected into her. It hasn't worn off yet, but the wounds are healing fairly well," said Angel.

"How did you get us out without attracting the attention of every other vampire there?" asked Mirany.

"I almost thought he wasn't going to get us out," said Connor. "He came in and talked to me for a while, trying to get all the information he could, but he wasn't making any attempt at helping us get free. I thought he was going to leave us there, come up with a plan and come back in a couple of days."

"That had been the plan," said Angel. "But I saw you and I couldn't leave you there any longer so I had to think one up on the spot."

"And what did you come up with?" asked Mirany.

"I pretended to be disposing your body and bringing Connor out to watch," said Angel. "The vamps that noticed anything thought it was a fine idea, wanted to come too, but I got rid of them pretty quickly."

"Mirany, you're avoiding my question," said Connor.

Mirany stared at him.

"Angel told you," she said. "Pain thingo but healing well."

"How do you feel?" asked Connor impatiently.

"I don't wanna burden you with that," said Mirany. "You've been through enough on my count."

"Mirany, stop blaming yourself," said Connor.

"Who was the witness?" asked Mirany. "I wanna give them a good kick and box of chocolates."

"What's the kick for?" asked Angel.

"For being a coward and waiting three days to tell anyone," Mirany snapped.

"I said they didn't tell _us_ until three days after you were taken," said Angel. "I didn't say they didn't tell anyone. Another person tried to help you, couldn't, and suggested that the witness came here."

"Who was the witness, and who was the other person?" asked Mirany, becoming impatient.

Angel bit his lip.

...

Mirany walked into the room and put on the head set. She dialed the number and waited for a moment until Lilah came on the screen. She looked extremely tired and glared at her.

"Mirany, I really have better things to do than to talk to a hormonal Slayer," she said.

"You'll talk to me," said Mirany firmly. "Think back four days ago. Someone came to Wolfram and Hart. Someone who witnessed two kids teenagers being kidnapped. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that now, would you?"

Lilah looked faintly amused.

"Is that what you called me for?" she asked. "To see if I knew something about a kidnapping?"

"It's my kidnapping," Mirany snapped. "Connor and I were both taken when we tried to rescue a couple of humans from a vampire rave. Someone saw it and they came to you. Why did you try to help?"

"I helped you and you're angry at me? asked Lilah. "I'm surprised at you Mirany. I certainly wasn't expecting that reaction. I tried to help you. And when I couldn't I sent Angel after you. Why are you angry at me?"

"I know you want me dead Lilah," said Mirany. "Why not just leave me to die there? Would've saved you a lot of bother."

Lilah smirked.

"I want you dead Mirany, yes, but I want to do it myself, not through a few vampires that get their rocks off torturing humans. Anyway, I was never a huge fan of those vampire hangouts. They're all stuck up demons, obsessed with money, power, fame, evil."

"Sounds just like someone I know," said Mirany pointedly.

Lilah ignored her.

"Do you have something you want to ask or tell me Mirany?" she asked.

"Yes," said Mirany. "I want to know why."

"Why? Oh Mirany please, do give me a little credit, said Lilah. "I do have a heart. You still have two months to live. I want you to enjoy that time. Am I not allowed to look after my favourite little sister before we go to war on each other?"

"I'm you're only younger sister," said Mirany.

"Mirany, I don't know why you're upset," said Lilah. "What's your problem?"

"Make up your mind," said Mirany. "Do you want me dead or not?"

"I can't tell you my motives Mirany, just accept that I was kind for once," said Lilah. "Now can I go home and get some sleep?"

"What did you do?" asked Mirany.

"What do you mean?" asked Lilah.

"What did you do to try to help me?" asked Mirany.

"I cut down their ranks, got vampires in that were less likely to kill you, sent Angel after you when I couldn't do anything else. I'm human, I can't go in there, and neither can normal demons. I couldn't find any vampires who were willing to go and rescue the Slayer and her pet boyfriend so all I could do was get Angel involved. Is a thank you too much to ask for?"

Mirany sighed.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"Don't think this makes us friends," said Lilah. "This was a once off."

"I am in total agreement," said Mirany, hanging up.

...

Mirany coughed and spluttered as Angel whacked the demon hard over the head with a crowbar, causing it to release it's hold on her throat. She crawled over to a corner and rested her head against the wall, trying to catch her breath again and rubbing her neck.

"Mirany, get up and help," Angel snapped, trying to swing at the demon again but it was fast and kept dodging his attacks.

Mirany ignored him, still coughing. Angel scowled and continued to try to attack the demon. Connor jumped on it's back and stabbed it in th neck. The demon collapsed and Angel stood back, sighing.

"Mirany..."

"Hey, I have a right to collapse. That thing nearly killed me," said Mirany. "Can't a Slayer have a few nights off? I was just tortured and I need to rest. I shouldn't be out here fighting demons."

"You've had your time off," said Angel. "Come on, let's find another haunt. Maybe this time you'll be able to..."

The explosion was right above them, causing the whole tunnel to shudder and parts of the roof to come down around them.

"What's going on?" asked Angel, staring above them.

"We need to get out of here," said Connor. "Come on."

He helped Mirany to her feet and they dashed out of the demon's lair. There were a few spot fires around but there wasn't too much damage.

"What just happened?" asked Angel, poking around the explosion site. "I can't see anything that would cause an explosion like this."

Mirany was staring around wildly, trying to figure out whether or not it was the explosion that she had witnessed before. Connor noticed her fearful gaze and looked at her curiously.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"Nothing," said Mirany quickly. "Nothing. It's fine."

It didn't seem to be the explosion in her dream, but it did look similar. It was the same sort of style. Lots of burnt and broken pieces of metal and brick and plenty of flames around them.

"I don't believe that," said Connor.

Mirany bit her lip. Angel looked around at her as well, but he put the two together much quicker.

"You had a dream, didn't you?" he asked.

"What?" asked Mirany. "No. No I...I didn't..."

"That's why you were so upset," said Connor.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Mirany.

Angel scowled.

"What did you see?" he asked angrily.

"It was ages ago," said Mirany. "I...I didn't want to believe it."

"Tell me Mirany."

Mirany glared at him.

"No," she snapped.

"Mirany, if it has anything to do with this or what's going to happen with Wolfram and Hart then I need to know," said Angel. "I don't know whether you still hold loyalty to Lilah and I don't care. You were called to protect the innocent. You tell me what you saw right now."

Mirany growled at him.

"I do not hold any alliance with Lilah any more," she snarled. "But I won't let you force me into anything. I'll tell you what I saw when I'm ready to face it."

"YOU NEED TO FACE IT NOW!" Angel yelled.

"NO I DON'T!" Mirany yelled back. "I'M NOT READY AND I'M CERTAINLY NOT GOING TO LET YOU DECIDE WHEN I'M READY!"

"Guys please," said Connor. "Stop..."

"YOU'RE GOING TO GET US ALL KILLED!" Angel yelled. "WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON OR WE WON'T HAVE A CHANCE WHEN IT'S TIME TO FIGHT!"

"I DIDN'T SAY I WOULDN'T TELL YOU! I SAID I WOULDN'T TELL YOU YET!" Mirany yelled.

"SO WHEN EXACTLY DO YOU PLAN ON TELLING ME THEN? AFTER WE'VE BEEN KILLED?"

"Stop fighting," said Connor. "We need to stick together. It's the only way we'll be able to..."

"SHUT UP!" Angel snarled.

His face had changed in his rage. His eyes were yellow, his brow furrowed and his teeth becoming pointed fangs. Connor knew what happened next. Angel was preparing himself to fight.

"IF YOU DON'T HELP US, WE WON'T STAND A CHANCE!"

"GOOD!" Mirany yelled. "BECAUSE RIGHT NOW, I DON'T THINK I WANT TO GIVE YOU A CHANCE."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Connor yelled furiously.

Mirany and Angel both looked at him.

"Why am I always breaking you two up?" asked Connor. "Can't you just agree for once?"

"If you have something to say, you had better say it right now," Mirany snarled, clenching and unclenching her fists, her eyes fixed on Angel, a look of pure hatred on her face.

"We shouldn't fight like this," said Connor. "This is only going to get harder from here on out. We don't know how this explosion occured, but I'm betting it was Wolfram and Hart, and I think it was to break us up. They want you two to hate each other."

"They're doing a great job," said Angel.

"Dad, come on, this is stupid," said Connor. "And you too Mirany. You're both being unreasonable. I get that it's hard to face a dream that could be showing you your death, but we have to know Mirany. However, we can't force it out of you. Please."

He didn't seem to be getting through to either of them.

"Come on," said Connor desperately. "We're easy targets when we're divided. We have to stand together."

Mirany shook her head.

"Not this time," she said. "I'm not siding with him again."

Connor stared after her as she stormed off, then he rounded on Angel.

"Oh, well done," he snapped.

"She'll come back," said Angel, his face changing back to normal.

"I wouldn't bet on it," said Connor, walking away.

...

"What's wrong with Mirany?" asked Cordelia. "She came round here, grabbed her bike and left. I tried to talk to her and she nearly ripped my throat out."

"I have better things to do than to worry about an adolescent little bitch," Angel snapped.

Cordelia stared at him.

"Don't ask," said Connor, throwing his knife into the corner of the lobby. "All you need to know is that we're doomed."

"What?" Cordelia hissed. "What did you do?"

"They fought," said Connor. "And now Mirany's not going to talk to him."

"Which means that she's not going to talk to us," said Cordelia. "Angel, how could you? You know that we need her. And you know that she needs us. She's vulnerable to Lilah and herself now."

"She'll have to deal with it," said Angel. "Because I'm not going to go over there and tell her that she won, because she didn't."

"No, Wolfram and Hart did," said Connor.

"We're so in for it now," Cordelia muttered. "I am going to kill you Angel."

...

"What's got you so angry?" asked Lilah, smirking.

"I'm not talking to you Lilah," said Mirany. "Leave me alone."

"But this is the perfect opportunity," said Lilah. "You know, we could really piss Angel off as a team."

"Lilah, you won't get me to join you," said Mirany.

"I know you had that dream," said Lilah. "It scares you, doesn't it? Knowing your future's that bleak. If you joined Wolfram and Hart, that would change. We can help with your dreams, and you'd be safe from what's going to happen. You'd change your course Mirany. You wouldn't die."

Mirany stared at her.

"You can't help my dreams," she said. "They're one of my powers. You can't make them go away."

"We can," said Lilah. "Wolfram and Hart is much more than just a law firm Mirany."

Mirany swallowed.

"And I'll be safe?" she asked.

"Yes," said Lilah. "Mirany, we're sisters. We can't be seperated like this, it's hard on both of us, denying our last living relative. Come on. I'll help you."

Mirany bit her lip.

"Just, let me send over a contract. You don't have to sign it but at least you can see what you'd be in for here," said Lilah.

Mirany considered her, knowing perfectly well that if she saw the contract, she was more than likely to sign it. Still, would it be that bad? She could stop the explosion from happening, which would save Connor at least, and she might be able to do some good in Wolfram and Hart. Mirany took a deep breath, then took the plunge.

"Alright."

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Yeah, the start of this is like that scene in that Buffy episode where Willow's vampire is torturing Angel, but I loved that episode and I had to do something with that idea. I don't own anything but if I didn't do something along the same lines I would have burst. I know I didn't really explain how they got into the situation either so really it's up to your imagination, just follow the hints I gave.**

**Please review. I try to use your suggestions whenever possible. I hope you liked the chapter and I'll have another one up soon.**


	7. Unsure

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**I'm giving this one a rating of M for coarse language, just to be on the safe side, and there is a drunk scene so...I dunno. If you think it should be rated M, then you'll be happy. Enjoy and please review.**

Mirany lay slumped over the bar counter. The pub was almost completely empty now, save her and Dan.

"And so you see, the difference between Carlton Draught and... the other one, is that, well, this one's... foamy."

Mirany looked through bleary eyes at Dan as she attempted to explain the difference between beers, her words slurring the more she continued to try to talk. She tilted precariously over the edge of the stool, only just managing to stay upright as she noticed that the ground was too far away for her to collapse onto.

"You know, I've decided that people... should go away. I mean, they're really just... stupid. There's no real reason for them, they're just unne... unneces... not needed. I mean. Wait... nope, I forget. People..." Mirany trailed away as she began to sink further in her stupor of drunkenness.

Dan watched as Mirany drowned herself in beer, knowing that if he touched her, she would react quickly, even though she was long past drunk now. Man, that bitch was strong. Mirany continued to babble about the foaminess of the beer and Dan looked on with worry. Mirany had done something like this once before, when she had sent a friend to prison. She told had told Dan that she had betrayed him and that she had to forget. Dan wondered what it was that she had done this time, but she was tight-lipped about the subject. Mirany caressed the glass that she was holding, still half full of beer, and Dan wondered what she would do if he cut her off. He doubted it would be pretty.

"You know... if I was the Queen, I'd make it a law that you can't be a person. You have to be... a cheetah," said Mirany.

"The Queen doesn't make laws," said Dan. "And wouldn't that mean that you'd have to be a cheetah too?"

"Sure she does," Mirany slurred. "That's what the Queen's for. And of course it wouldn't mean I had to be a cheetah. I... I'm too cool for that."

Dan shook his head exasperatedly, not wanting to fight with Mirany about something as trivial as this while she was drunk out of her head.

"Mirany, maybe you should go home. Do you want me to call you a cab?"

"I'm not fucking going home," Mirany snapped. "More beer. Get more beer."

"Mirany, the place was supposed to close two hours ago," said Dan. "It's almost sun rise."

"Sun rise can piss off," said Mirany. "More beer."

She banged her glass on the counter and it broke in her fingers. Dan sighed.

_This is what happens when you cater for all kinds. You get demons, vampires, humans... and the occasional Slayer._

"Mirany, you need to go home," he said.

"More beer," said Mirany more forcefully, glaring as best she could at him through her half closed eyes.

Dan swallowed and handed her another glass full.

"So Mirany, what have you been up to?" he asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.

"I know your tricks you... you... you bastard," Mirany snapped. "You can't fool me!"

She waved her glass at Dan accusingly, sloshing half the beer over her hand and his chest. Dan bit his lip, determined not to lose his temper at the drunken teenager. It was, after all, essentially his fault she was intoxicated. And besides, he couldn't really kick her out. She would take away his pub in the blink of an eye.

"Where's your boyfriend?" asked Dan. "Do you want me to call him to pick you up?"

"I know who you're thinking of, and he's not my boyfriend. Neither is my actual boyfriend because he's a person and I don't like people."

"Oh," said Dan. "Did you two have a fight?"

"Who?" asked Mirany, looking around. "Who had a fight? Where's the fight? Can I join in?"

Dan scowled.

"There's no... never mind," he sighed.

"Look at the colours," said Mirany, staring into her glass. "All of the colours."

"Very nice," said Dan carelessly, proceeding to clean up the spilt beer.

"Have you looked at the colours?" asked Mirany absentmindedly.

"Mirany, I really think you need to go home."

Mirany scowled at him.

"I'm not going home," Mirany snapped. "I don't even know where my home is. Anyway, it's... infected."

"Mirany, I really don't want to make you go home," said Dan. "And I know your house is not infected."

Mirany snorted.

"You can't do that," she said. "I'm way too strong for you. I could take you in a second. And it is. It's infected by... people."

"Mirany, tell me please, why are you drinking like this?" asked Dan.

"I won't talk about it," said Mirany stubbornly. "Won't... won't talk about it."

Dan sighed.

"Come on Mirany," he said. "You can tell me. I'm a bartender. Everybody tells me their darkest secrets. I will keep quiet about anything."

"Yeah, until someone beats it out of you," said Mirany.

"Mirany, tell me," said Dan.

"I've done things," Mirany slurred. "Bad things."

"I know that Mirany, but what was so bad this time?" asked Dan impatiently.

"Oh, well... you know, bad stuff," said Mirany.

"Did you kill someone?" asked Dan.

Mirany giggled maniacally.

"I've done that before," she said. "But not this time. I don't think so anyway. I can't remember."

"Did you... send someone to jail again?" asked Dan.

Mirany stiffened then she seized him by the throat.

"How do you know about that? Who told you? Who do you work for?" she asked, holding him a foot above the ground and still slurring.

"Mirany, you told me," Dan wheezed, trying to loosen her grip.

Mirany blinked.

"Oh," she muttered, letting him drop back to the ground, rubbing his throat.

_Ow. This chick's mad. Wait, did she say that she has killed someone before? Yikes._

"So?" he asked. "Yes or no?"

"What are we talking about?" asked Mirany.

Dan sighed.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"Nothing," said Mirany defensively. "I'm just trying to have a drink. Can't you let me do that in peace?"

Dan knew that he wasn't going to get anything out of her while she was like this. She could barely remember what happened two seconds ago.

"You know what I did do the other day though?" asked Mirany. "I decided to..."

But she never got that far. Her last glass of alcohol had taken effect and she slumped over the counter, completely out of it.

"And I was so close too," Dan muttered, scowling as he lifted her off the stool and carried her up to his apartment right above the pub, placing her on the couch. Mirany would know exactly what had happened when she woke up. It certainly wasn't the first time she had been lying unconscious on his furniture. Shaking his head sadly, Dan left her alone.

...

Mirany mumbled something incoherantly as she was shaken awake. She tried to wave her 'attacker' away, but they wouldn't leave.

"Mirany, wake up," snapped Connor's voice.

Mirany groaned in complaint to his loud voice, slapping the air above her in the hope that she would hit his face without having to open her eyes.

"Mirany, you're not going to be able to hit me unless you open your eyes," said Connor.

"But that'll hurt," Mirany mumbled.

"So will me raising my voice if I have to ask you to get up," said Connor pointedly.

"Your voice already hurts," Mirany muttered, shielding her eyes with her hand before opening them. "What do you want?"

"I haven't seen you in two weeks," said Connor. "I was hoping we could talk."

"Not while I'm hung over," said Mirany.

"Too bad," said Connor, pulling her to her feet.

Mirany staggered at the quick change from lying down to standing up and groaned as her head pounded.

"Please tell me you don't want to talk about Angel," she said, leaning heavily on him as he led her out of the room.

"I don't want to talk about Angel," said Connor.

"Good, because neither do I," said Mirany. "You know, I think I was talking about you last night."

"You think you were?" asked Connor.

"Yeah, I can't remember. I was drinking," said Mirany.

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed," said Connor sarcastically.

Mirany glared at him.

"What do you want to talk about?" she asked as he all but pulled her down the stairs and into the bar.

It was loud in there with the many humans, vampires and demons talking loudly and the music blaring above them all. Mirany swore and covered her ears with her hands.

"Get me out of here," she hissed at Connor.

Connor rolled his eyes and dragged her through the pub to the street outside. Mirany leant against the wall, groaning.

"If you're going to throw up, warm me so that I can get out of the way," said Connor.

"I don't projectile vomit," Mirany snapped. "And I'm not going to throw up. I just feel really, really bad."

"How much did you drink?" asked Connor.

"Connor, you found me passed out on Dan's couch," said Mirany. "Do the math."

Connor held his hands up in defence.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Didn't mean to hit a nerve."

"Can you hurry up and get to the talking part?" asked Mirany. "I have other things I could be doing."

Connor scowled at her.

"Maybe I should have just left you lying on the couch," he snapped. "You were obviously happier there."

Mirany sighed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," she said. "I'm just...I'm not too good right now Connor so could you hurry up with whatever you want to talk about?"

"I wanted to check if you were okay," said Connor. "That's all. Obviously, you're not okay at the moment, but overall."

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" asked Mirany.

"Well just...you haven't spoken to anyone in two weeks," said Connor. "You might have been killed or something. I just wanted to check up. I mean, just because you and dad had a fight doesn't mean that you can't talk to the rest of us. I was worried."

"Well, you didn't need to be," said Mirany. "I just needed some time alone."

"With Lilah?" Connor asked.

Mirany stared at him.

"How do you know about that?" she asked.

"Mirany, did you honestly believe that you could fly under my radar for two weeks?" asked Connor. "When I said I was worried, that was a bit of an understatement I'll admit. I cracked it at dad and...began stalking you."

Mirany scowled at him and began to walk away.

"No, it's not what you think," said Connor, getting in front of her and grabbing her arm to stop her from walking in the opposite direction. "I didn't really follow you around and take pictures of you all day or anything. I just made sure you were alright. I saw you go into Wolfram and Hart and I can only assume that you were there to see Lilah."

"So wait, let me get this straight. You followed me when you saw me in town and you made assumptions based purely on what _you_ saw?" asked Mirany angrily. "Do you have any idea how badly I'm going to bash you up?"

"Just...tell me you didn't join Wolfram and Hart," said Connor. "Please Mirany. Tell me that I'm wrong in thinking that you've gone over to the dark side."

"Your use of Star Wars analogies is really not appreciated at this point in time," said Mirany coolly.

"Have you?" asked Connor.

Mirany didn't answer. Connor sighed and let go of her, taking a step away from her as he processed.

"Why?" he whispered. "Why would you do that Mirany?"

"I didn't say I had," said Mirany. "I'm just...I'm not sure."

"What's there to be unsure about?" asked Connor. "You can't do it. She'll make you kill and torture people. You'll work for the side of evil. How can there be any indecision?"

"Because they can protect me!" Mirany snapped.

"FROM WHAT?" Connor yelled. "WHAT DO YOU THINK THEY CAN PROTECT YOU FROM?"

Mirany paused.

"Oh, not that bloody dream again," Connor said angrily. "You can't be serious."

"It's going to happen," said Mirany. "And I will do whatever it takes to stop it from happening."

"What's going to happen Mirany?" asked Connor. "Why are you so scared of it? Mirany, you need to tell someone. Please. Don't make a snap decision just because you're scared. What's going to happen?"

Mirany swallowed.

"I can't...can't tell you here," she said. "Can we go back to my place? I can speak freely there."

Connor nodded.

"Sure," he said.

...

Connor leant back in his chair, processing what Mirany had just told him.

"So basically, we're going to die?" he asked.

Mirany nodded.

"I couldn't tell you," she said. "I couldn't put that burden on you. Knowing that everyone's going to die...I keep seeing this. I see it almost every night now. It's like some sort of broken record in my head. I can't get rid of it. I didn't want to bring it on you too. I wanted to try to stop it myself."

"And you think that joining Wolfram and Hart is going to stop this?" asked Connor.

"Not right away. But if I worked to stop it, wouldn't it be easier to do that if I was working for the company?" asked Mirany.

"No," said Connor. "Because once you join that company, you won't think it's a bad thing. You'll think it's the right thing to do to serve Wolfram and Hart."

Mirany rubbed her forehead in frustration.

"I can't take this burden," she said. "It's not the only reason I'm considering joining. They can stop my dreams. Lilah proved it. I actually had a good night's sleep."

"You won't when you join," said Connor. "You'll never have a good night's sleep again. And you can't just quash your powers like that. They're key for you survival Mirany. You can't just have some and not others. It's a package deal."

"Then I don't want them at all!" Mirany snapped.

"You don't mean that," said Connor.

"Yes I do," said Mirany. "If I didn't have my powers, I wouldn't be in this mess. I'd still have my parents, wouldn't have killed anyone, I wouldn't be in this fight with Angel..."

"You wouldn't have met me, you wouldn't have saved innocent people," said Connor. "Sometimes bad things happen Mirany. Sure, you've had a few unfortunate encounters since you've gotten your powers, but your life hasn't been doom and gloom since you got them."

Mirany didn't look like she believed him.

"Mirany, listen to me," said Connor urgently. "Your powers aren't bad things. Your life hasn't been ruined by them. You need them to survive. Even you could somehow get rid of them, you wouldn't be able to live the same way. You wouldn't know what to do. I know it's hard some times. I understand that. But joining Wolfram and Hart and trying to make all the bad powers disappear isn't the answer for anything. You'll only make things worse Mirany."

"What else am I supposed to do?" asked Mirany. "You say that this bloody vision thing helps me but it doesn't. It drains me. I get headaches and I can't sleep properly. How does that help me? Sure, I can see the future, but I'm not going to be able to do anything about it if I can't even get a good night's sleep."

She looked resolved on the issue, and Connor was scared that no matter what he said, she would still join the law firm.

"All I have left is Lilah," said Mirany. "She's the only person in my family that's still alive. Please, don't try to stop me. She's the only person left for me to turn to."

"You have _me_," said Connor. "You have Angel and Cordelia and Wesley. Lilah might be your blood but do you honestly consider her as family? She's tortured you, she's deserted you, she's toyed with you..."

"She's also been a friend when I needed her, helped me with my pain and stopped us from being killed in that place," said Mirany.

Connor shook his head disbelievingly.

"Are you serious?" he asked. "Are you really so blind that you can't see that she doesn't want you to join Wolfram and Hart so that she can help you? She wants you so that she can use you. You're going to be used for killing and torture. Nobody's going to listen to a word you say once you've joined. You'll just become another one of them. You won't care if you kill or hurt people. You'll be compeltely taken over by evil. You don't want that Mirany. No matter what they can do to help you, you don't want this."

"You can't know that," said Mirany softly.

"Do you honestly think that Lilah's going to stop planning that explosion just because you join? Do you honestly believe that you're going to be able to do any good once you're there? Because I only have two words for you in that case. You're insane. Lilah's not going to care. You'll just be one of her puppets. You won't matter to her at all. While you're still independant, you have power. You can hurt her. You can have a say. You join them and you won't be able to help anyone."

"How do you know?" asked Mirany. "How do you know that I won't be able to make a difference? Surely the thought's crossed all of your minds. Surely you've all thought how powerful a weapon that place could be if it were used for good."

"Of course we have," said Connor. "But we know that joining is not how we're going to be able to get it. If we wanted to use that to fight the good fight, we would find a way to get into management. We wouldn't join them as assassins like they want us to."

"What am I supposed to do then?" asked Mirany. "I can't talk to Angel. He won't talk to me. If I can't join Wolfram and Hart then all I have left is myself. The last time I did that I ended up killing people anyway. I don't want to go back there again."

"Mirany, you can talk to Angel. And even if you don't want to, you can still talk to me," said Connor. "You're not alone this time Mirany. You have at your fingertips that want to help you. Sure, last time, you didn't, but you do now. You need to understand this. You are not alone."

"Just because I'm surrounded by people doesn't mean that I'm not alone," said Mirany frustratedly. "It just means that there are lots of people who think they know me."

"We _do_ know you," said Connor firmly. "Or at least, I do."

Connor stared in her eyes, searching for anything that could be belief that he was right, but Mirany either wasn't believing a thing he said, or was very good at not showing her emotions.

"What if something happens to you?" she whispered, her eyes beginning to tear up. "What will I do if you get killed in that explosion but I don't?"

Connor shook his head.

"Don't even think about that Mirany," he snapped. "Worry about that when we get to it. Right now, only worry about what will happen to you if you join Wolfram and Hart. Please Mirany, don't join them. Please, see some sense."

Mirany looked down at the floor, her breathing uneven and shallow. Connor took hold of her hand and she looked up at him, tears trickling down her face.

"How can you always see the right path?" she asked. "Why do you always know what's right while I'm struggling to stop myself from killing innocent people? And I can't even do that right."

Connor ran a hand down her cheek.

"It's not easy to do Mirany," he said. "The right way is very, very rarely the easy way."

"But I try so hard," said Mirany. "What am I doing wrong?"

Connor smirked.

"I can't tell you that," he said, "because I don't know the answer. Listen to your instincts Mirany. They're rarely wrong. Now, does this mean that you're not going to join W.H?"

Mirany nodded.

"I suppose," she said.

"Good," said Connor. "Then I can kiss you."

Mirany rolled her eyes.

"Is that the only reason why you're here?" she asked.

"No," said Connor. "I can't kiss an evil person."

Mirany smiled.

"Alright," she said. "Can't say you didn't earn it."

"Too right you can't," said Connor, kissing her softly.

...

"No, I won't talk to him," said Mirany firmly. "You can't make me talk to him."

Connor scowled at her.

"If you don't talk to Angel then there's really no point in trying to fight against Wolfram and Hart," he said. "Without Angel, nothing's going to happen."

Mirany glared at him.

"He was a bastard," she said. "In fact, he's always a bastard. Why should I talk to him?"

"Were you even listening to me?" asked Connor. "There's no point in fighting if you can't co-operate with Angel."

"Can't I just speak to him through you? It'd probably be easier for everyone that way. It's less likely that someone's going to get hurt if we do it like that," said Mirany.

Connor rolled his eyes and pulled her into the hotel, ignoring her complaints. Wesley was in the lobby and he looked up from his book when they entered.

"Mirany! I hadn't expected to see you around here for a long time," he said. "I'm glad to see that you can put your argument behind you."

Connor snorted quietly.

"Hi Wesley," said Mirany. "I have to say it's nice to hear an English voice again. Americans can get that really annoying tone to their voice. Nice to hear something that sounds normal."

"Hey!" said connor indignantly. "I'm American and I'm perfectly okay. You guys are the ones with the weird accents."

"They're not weird," Mirany snapped. "Just because you can't understand some of the big words we use doesn't make our accents weird. It just makes you uneducated. Sorry if we're sophisticated."

Connor shook his head exasperatedly and walked into Angel's office.

"It's good to see you're okay," said Wesley. "I was worried about you when Connor came back the other night and said that you were at Wolfram and Hart. You didn't join right?"

Mirany shook her head.

"Connor talked me out of it," she said. "I have to admit, you guys are very good with your interventions."

"It's not us," said Wesley. "It's just those two. Angel said something about you having a dream...?"

"Not now," said Mirany. "Ask Connor if you really want to know this second. Otherwise, it can wait for a little while."

Wesley bit his lip.

"Okay," he said.

"Why are you here?" asked Angel, coming out of his office with Connor behind him.

Connor was scowling heavily, glaring at Angel's back.

"I...I'm here to...why am I here?" Mirany asked Connor.

"Like I said," said Connor poisonously, still glaring at Angel, "Mirany's here because she wants to move on. She has something important to tell you and she needs our help."

"Can't you do it yourself? You have more money than the whole bloody country," Angel snapped.

"I didn't come here to be treated disrespectfully," Mirany snarled. "I came here because if I don't tell you about my dream soon then we're all going to die. I want to fight this but I can't do it without your help."

Angel considered her.

"You better tell me what this dream is then," he said, giving her a grudging smile and gesturing at his office.

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Hope you liked this one. It should get a bit more action-y soon and I'm sorry to those of you who wanted to read about a heap of vampires getting their asses kicked. I will have another chapter up shortly so please review and I'm always welcome to new ideas if you have them.**


	8. Strength

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow."

Mirany winced with every step she took.

"I did tell you not to go in there by yourself," said Angel, following her out of the warehouse. "But did you listen? No."

"It was getting away," Mirany snapped. "What did you want me to do? Watch it run away while you go and find the right weapon to kill it with? Why did you even need a different axe to the one you had?"

"There are some demons that can only be killed with certain weapons," said Angel. "That was one of them."

"Yeah well, it was about to kill me with a whole lot of weapons," Mirany muttered. "I do have to commend you for your timing. I would have preferred if you had come earlier, but still, it was pretty good. Better than nothing I suppose."

Angel was about to answer when something grabbed him around the neck from behind and pulled him backwards.

"Why did you have to park the car so far away?" asked Mirany as Angel punched his attacker in the jaw. "You know, generally people get hurt when they patrol. You could show a little descency and park the car a little closer. I mean, are you completely oblivious to the people around you?"

She groaned in pain as she climbed into Angel's car.

"Could you drive fast?" she asked, lying down across the back seats, still not noticing Angel's struggle with the demon.

Angel threw the demon on the car hood and Mirany moaned in pain.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her eyes closed. "Having an orgasim or something? I'm in pain here! Can we please deal with my pain?"

"Oh, I'll get right on that," Angel grunted sarcastically, swinging his axe at the demon's neck as it stumbled away from the car, disorientated.

"You do that," Mirany muttered.

Angel flopped into his seat, taking a moment to breathe, but Mirany kicked him impatiently.

"Ow!" he said indignantly.

"Get a move on," she snapped. "I told you, I'm in pain. I need to go home."

"Yes ma'am," Angel muttered.

"That's more like it," said Mirany.

"You know, one day you're going to find out what it's like to live a normal life," said Angel.

"I doubt it," said Mirany.

...

Angel banged on Mirany's door, getting very impatient. A few moments later, Mirany appeared, scowling heavily at him.

"Can't a girl have a good night's sleep every now and then?" she snapped. "What do you want that's so important it can't wait until tomorrow?"

Angel ignored her, shoving past ehr and into the hosue, staring around wildly.

"Angel, what's going on?" asked Mirany.

"Shh."

Mirany looked like she was about to snap back but Angel slapped a hand over her mouth and pulled her further into the house, still looking around, checking every room and jumping at every shadow. Mirany wrestled out of his grip and glared at him.

"What's going on Angel?" she asked.

"I just got back to the hotel," said Angel. "There was this weird looking demon there. I've never seen anything like it and coming from me, that's saying something. I wouldn't even have noticed it if Cordelia hadn't been trying to kill Connor. It moved out of their way and I caught a glimpse of it before it could blend into the wall again. It was some sort of camoflage demon or something."

"Probably someone wanted it to spy on you," said Mirany simply. "But I can assure you that there are none here. This place is cleaned with holy water. Trust me. No demon can come in here and try to camoflage while they're being burnt by that stuff."

Angel stared at her.

"You get your house keepers to clean the place with holy water?" he asked. "Are you trying to kill me?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," said Mirany snidely.

Angel shook his head exasperatedly.

"Okay, whatever," he muttered. "I still wanna check this place out."

"Angel, that could take days," Mirany complained.

"Were would you generally discuss things that you don't want other people to hear?" asked Angel.

"The computer lab," said Mirany.

"And I'm guessing you don't clean that room with holy water?" asked Angel.

"Well duh," said Mirany. "But nothing could hide in there. I'd know. Something would be wrong with my computer. If any in that room is touched, it's going to affect that computer. That's why I don't like people in there."

Angel pulled her down the corridor.

"Angel, you're being stupid," said Mirany.

"We'll see," said Angel. "Lead the way."

Mirany scowled and led Angel through her house to the computer lab.

"If they are spies, who do you think they're spying for?" asked Angel.

"My first guess would be someone who wants to know what you know," said Mirany. "Like say... Lilah?"

"But she knows how much we know," said Angel. "It can't be her."

"Well then, I don't know. Oh, by the way, why was Cordelia trying to kill Connor?"

"What? Oh, I dunno. He probably told her that her clothes didn't look good or something," said Angel carelessly. "I didn't really ask."

Mirany opened the door and Angel peered inside.

"Lights?" he asked.

"You're a vampire," Mirany snapped. "You can see without lights. Besides, there aren't lights in here anyway."

"Sorry. Didn't mean to hit a nerve," Angel muttered.

"Then you shouldn't have come around here at three in the morning," Mirany growled.

Angel ignored her and stared around the room. Mirany went straight to one of the smaller screens around the walls.

"Okay, that's weird," she muttered, typing too fast for Angel to follow.

"What?" asked Angel, leaning over her shoulder.

"I have messages," said Mirany, confused.

"Is that really that weird?" asked Angel. "Everyone gets messages. That's nothing new."

"I know that but I didn't know that I got them. I always know when i get a message. My phone tells me. It's wired into the system."

"But it didn't beep?" asked Angel.

"No," said Mirany slowly, staring around the walls at all the wires. "I think it's those ones..."

She climbed onto the table and began to scale footholds on the wall until she reached a group of wires and examined them.

"You have footholds?" asked Angel.

"Of course I have footholds. Howelse do you think this room was wired up. I sure as hell wasn't going to carry a ladder all the way through the place to get here. We had them built in."

"Oh of course. Wouldn't like to do anything that might be slightly physically taxing to our bodies now would we?"

Mirany poked her tongue out at him before returning to the wires.

"They've been frayed," she said. "How...?"

She yelled in shock as the wall threw her off, straight into Angel.

"Okay, I take it back," she said, scrambling to her feet. "You're not overreacting."

The demon jumped off the wall and onto the ground, but they only saw it for a moment before it had changed it's appearance to suit it's new surroundings.

"Damn it, how are we supposed to know where it is?" asked Mirany, staring around her, throwing the occasional kick at thin air in the hope that she was hitting the demon.

"Well, maybe if you actually took a moment to listen for once," Angel muttered.

"Funny," said Mirany sarcastically.

Angel was about to reply when he grunted in pain and staggered backwards, rubbing his jaw.

"Get out," said Mirany. "I have an idea."

"That's a first," Angel muttered.

"Just go," Mirany snapped, pulling a knife from her pocket, still staring around her.

As Angel left the room, Mirany's knife was almsot kicked right out of her hand.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it," she muttered. "I'm going to regret this."

She dived to the ground underneath the computers and pulled a large amount of cords from their computers. Using the knife, and kicking out with her legs behind her to stop the demon from coming too close, she sliced through the cords, careful not to touch the metal that had large amounts of electricity running through them. She pulled a bottle of holy water out of a drawer and poured the whole thing on the computers and the floor. She heard the demon cry out in pain at some point and smirked grimly with satisfaction. Placing herself beside the door, she dropped the cords into th water just as she hurried out of the room. Angel stared at her as she dashed outside, slamming the door behind her.

"What did you do?"

"Cooked it," said Mirany. "I'm gonna need to completely re-wire the room now. And that message was from Lilah which can't be a good thing."

Angel smirked.

"I'll leave you to deal with her then," he said. "Keep an eye out for those things. Anything that seems a bit off...just, be careful."

"Tell me again why this couldn't wait until a reasonable hour of the day?" asked Mirany.

"You think a reasonable hour of the day is 6pm," said Angel. "I wasn't going to wait that long. Anyway, now you have all day to re-wire your precious computers."

Mirany grumbled to herself and pushed Angel back through her home.

"The next time I see you, I don't want to hear the words vampire, demon or patrol from your mouth," she said. "If I do, I will have no choice but to introduce you to Mr Pointy."

"You named your stake?" asked Angel.

"No, I named my sword," said Mirany. "I'd rather behead you than stake you."

Angel rolled his eyes.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said sarcastically. "See you later."

Mirany grunted and shoved him through the door, slamming it behind him and returning to the comfort of her room, but she had barely laid her head back on her pillow when her phone rang loudly. Swearing, she snatched up the phone.

"What?" she barked.

_"I left you a message,"_ said Lilah. _"But you never got back to me."_

"Please tell me why this couldn't have waited 'til later," Mirany hissed. "You're more likely to recruit me when I'm not so angry."

_"Because it's my duty to annoy you,"_ said Lilah. _"I'm your sister. It's what I live for."_

"No, it's the other way around Lilah. The younger one is supposed to annoy the older one," Mirany sighed.

_"Well I've never been much for tradition."_

"What do you want?" asked Mirany.

_"I was just wondering if you were interested in..."_

"No," said Mirany at once. "Goodbye."

She threw the phone away but Lilah wasn't perturbed.

_"CONNOR'S IN TROUBLE!"_ she yelled, making sure that Mirany heard her.

Mirany scrambled over to the phone and snatched it up again.

"What have you done to him?" she asked, her voice shaking with anger.

_"Mirany, I'm insulted. I tell you that your boyfriend's in trouble and you immediately assume that I've done something to him?"_

"Yes," said Mirany simply.

_"Well, okay, this time you're right,"_ said Lilah. _"But you won't always be right."_

"Lilah, I swear if you touch so much as a hair..." Mirany started threateningly.

_"Oh don't stress,"_ Lilah interrupted. _"I'm not gonna hurt him. I'm too busy for that. I'm just going to get someone else to hurt him."_

"I don't care who you're going to get to hurt him, I just care whether he get's hurt or not," Mirany snapped. "Because if he does, I will hold you personally responsible, no matter who it was that did the hurting."

_"That's not very friendly, you know,"_ said Lilah.

"I've never been much for pleasantries. What have you done with Connor?"

_"I'll give him back to you if you come over here,"_ said Lilah. _"If you're not at Wolfram and Hart within the hour, he could be seriously injured."_

"Don't touch him," said Mirany shakily.

_"One hour,"_ said Lilah. _"I'm sick and tired of playing around with you Mirany. I'm deadly serious now."_

Mirany swallowed and hung up.

...

"Ah, Mirany, here at last," said Lilah, looking up as Mirany walked into her office, a look of cold fury on her face. "Just in time too."

"I'm here, let him go," said Mirany, her fists clenched and her voice shaking very slightly.

Lilah got to her feet and clapped loudly. Two large, extremely muscular men entered the office and grabbed hold of Mirany. She didn't struggle as they pulled her into a chair and tied her to it.

"You're such a brave, noble little girl, aren't you?" asked Lilah. "Well, there is one thing you're not, and that's smart."

Mirany stared at her.

"I don't have Connor," Lilah admitted. "This was just...a trap. If you had any brains, you would have at least called him on your way here. But no, you didn't. Too eager to play the hero perhaps?"

Mirany glared at her.

"You're going to kill me soon anyway, why do you want me now?" she asked.

Lilah chuckled.

"Because I can get you out of the way," she said. "One less risk I have to worry about."

"Thanks, that makes me feel so much better," said Mirany sarcastically.

"I have a knack for doing that," said Lilah. "Now sit tight and be a good girl while I go and sort out someone to torture you before I kill you."

"Lilah, haven't you already done this to me before?" asked Mirany pointedly. "This is old. You need something new. Something a little less predictable. I mean, the moment Angel finds out that I'm not at home, he'll come straight here."

"How do you know if he'll care?" asked Lilah. "I mean, after all, he must still be feeling a little pissed at you after the big fight you had. How do you know that he'll want to come and get you?"

Mirany stared at her.

"Because...b...because," Mirany stuttered.

"I don't have time for this," said Lilah. "We'll leave you alone for a little while and be back shortly with objects to make you scream."

"Now that could be taken in a range of different ways," said Mirany. "Most of them disturbing."

Lilah ignored her and walked out of the office, the two thuglike men following after her.

...

"Dad, do you know Mirany is?" asked Connor, walking into Angel's office.

"I would expect she's at home, sleeping," said Angel.

"Well, I called but they said she'd gone out," said Connor.

"Then she's gone out," said Angel. "Is it really that hard for you to grasp that she might have a life that doesn't revolve around you?"

"Hilarious," said Connor sarcastically. "But I called her mobile and there was no answer on that either. And how often is Mirany up at 9 in the morning of her own free will?"

"She's probably at some sort of business meeting or something," said Angel carelessly. "Why are you so worried? It's Mirany, I'm sure she's fine. Unless you're afraid she's cheating on you. Then you might need to worry."

"Mirany is not cheating on me and she's not at a bloody meeting," Connor snapped.

"Whoa, calm down," said Angel. "I was kidding. But Connor, seriously, she'll be fine. This is Mirany we're talking about. Unless she's killing people again, there's not much that can go wrong."

"Yeah, unless Lilah gets to her or some demon takes her by surprise or she finally crashes on that bike of hers which she rides around at 200 miles an hour. Why aren't you worried? What have you got against Mirany?"

"Nothing," said Angel. "And don't you think you're becoming just a little overprotective?"

"I'm her boyfriend, I'm allowed to be," said Connor shortly.

Angel raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're becoming a little obsessive," he said.

"I have my reasons," said Connor.

"And I'm guessing that I don't get to find out what they are, do I?" asked Angel.

"No," said Connor.

"I'd like to," said Angel.

"Yeah, and I'd like for you and Mirany to stop fighting, but we can't have everything we like in life," Connor snapped. "If you tell me why you're so intent on being pissed off at Mirany, I'll tell you why I'm so intent on keeping an eye on her."

Angel smirked.

"Fine," he said. "If you really want to know, I think Mirany acts too spoilt. And besides, she's a teenager. Teenagers just annoy me."

"I annoy you?" asked Connor.

"Yes," said Angel simply. "Your turn."

Connor looked like he was chewing his tongue.

"When you two weren't talking to each other, Mirany was seriously considering working with Wolfram and Hart," he said. "Now that she's turned Lilah down again after she was so close to joining, Lilah's not going to be happy. I'm scared for her. Obviously, you're not."

"You think that Lilah's going to try to convince her again?" asked Angel.

"Try best case scenario," said Connor pointedly. "I think Lilah's more likely to try to kill her."

Angel scowled.

"You're saying this just to make me get off my arse and look for her, aren't you?" he asked.

"No," said Connor. "I am worried about Mirany. I don't know where she is and she either won't or can't answer her phone. It may not be Lilah, but if it is, we have to find her. I don't care how much of a grudge you have against Mirany and teenagers, you need to help me look for Mirany."

Angel sighed and got to his feet.

"If nothing's wrong, I'm going to be seriously annoyed," he warned.

"Something's wrong. I know it is," said Connor fervently.

...

"Uh, I know that you want to torture me and all, but did you really have to take my shoes?" asked Mirany.

Lilah ignored her.

"No, I'm serious," said Mirany. "Those shoes cost a fortune."

"Don't you dare talk about fortunes," Lilah snarled.

"Whoa, jeez, okay. Sorry. Didn't mean to hit a nerve. It's not my fault you were evil and dad decided it wasn't a good idea to give you their money," said Mirany. "Sorry I wasn't evil."

"You were evil," said Lilah, leaning against her desk. "You were killing people."

Mirany glared at her.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not killing anymore and you won't get me to," she said.

"Oh Mirany, I've moved past that now," said Lilah. "If I hadn't, you wouldn't be here. I'd just be talking to you about it again."

"Speaking of talking," said Mirany, "you wouldn't have to know anything about a couple of camoflage demons at my place or Angel's, would you?"

"Of course I would," said Lilah. "I sent them. I wanted to make sure that you weren't getting any closer to stopping us."

"And what did you find?" asked Mirany.

"That you weren't," said Lilah simply.

"Then you'd be wrong," said Mirany.

Lilah froze.

"What?" she hissed.

"We have made progress," said Mirany.

"What have you found out?" asked Lilah, getting up and shaking Mirany slightly. "What do you know?"

"Jeez, obsessive much?" asked Mirany. "Like I'm going to tell you. Please, I do have a little bit of sense."

"I will get it out of you," Lilah threatened.

"Then I suggest you try," said Mirany, giving her a defiant look.

She and Lilah glared into each other's eyes for a moment before Lilah turned on her heel and went back over to her desk.

"In that case," she muttered. "You leave me no choice."

Mirany didn't really understand what she was on about until she pulled a knife from her desk drawer.

"Ah," said Mirany, biting her lip. "Yes, torture. Well, you see, like I told you earlier, you've already done this to me before and it's not like it's the first time I've been tortured. You need something new tricks Lilah. I mean, you're gonna have to be really ruthless to get me to scream, and I'll know what you're going to do to me so I can brace myself because you've already done it to me before so..."

Lilah wasn't listening. She was sharpening the knife.

"You know what I think we should do?" asked Mirany. "I think we should both just sit down and settle this over a nice cup of tea."

Lilah snorted softly.

"You're still far too English," she muttered.

"You're English too remember," said Mirany defensively.

"Yes, but not only do I drink coffee now, I also don't have an accent so I can pass for American," said Lilah. "Now, any more talk and I'll make sure you never talk again."

"Angel would be veyr thankful if you did that," said Mirany. "You don't want to make him happy, do you? I mean, he's a good guy. You don't want to make good guys happy."

"Zip it!" Lilah snapped, annoyed.

"I don't think I really want to right now," said Mirany. "The more I can annoy you before you kill me, the better."

"If you say so," said Lilah carelessly.

She was still sharpening the knife. Mirany winced at every grate against the stone of the sharpening wand. Mirany was becoming more and more apprehensive. Lilah wasn't getting particularly angry, which could only mean that she was bottling her anger up, waiting for the right moment to release it.

"Seen any good movies lately?" she tried.

Lilah gave her a condesending look and Mirany shook her head.

"Of course not. You're a big CEO or something of this place. You wouldn't have time for pathetic things like that. Helped any particularly nasty demons lately?"

Lilah scowled at her and threw the knife at her. Mirany yelled and ducked as it whizzed straight for her head. The knife missed her scalp by milimetres. Mirany even felt the rush of air that followed it and heard the 'thunk' as it buried itself in the wall. She straightened up again, swallowing.

"What happened to torture?" she asked.

"Killing you seemed like more fun," said Lilah, walking around behind Mirany and pulling the knife from the wall.

Mirany swallowed again as Lilah ran the blade of the knife softly across her neck.

"Am I really _that_ predictable now?" she whispered in Mirany's ear.

...

"If she's in Wolfram and Hart, we'll never get her out," said Angel. "We don't have any of the resources that we had last time we went in there. They'd kill us in a second if we tried."

"Well we have to try something," said Connor. "We don't know where Lilah lives so we can't check there and she's no where to be seen in town."

"I have a suggestion," said Cordelia.

"Are you sure she's no where else?" asked Angel. "What about Dan's?"

"First place I looked," said Connor.

"We couldn't find her anywhere above ground Angel," said Wesley. "And you didn't find her anywhere accessable from the underground. The only place she could be is Wolfram and Hart."

"If you'd let me speak..." tried Cordelia.

"Surely there's got to be some way to storm that place without Mirany's money," said Angel.

"There's always..."

"Cordelia, not now," Connor snapped. "We're trying to find Mirany okay? Do we have anything to create some sort of explosion? Not a big one. Just one that will give us enough time to get in there unnoticed while all the security guards go to check it out."

"We could try molotov coctails," said Wesley. "They're not hard to put together and they make quite the explosion."

"There is an easier way," said Cordelia.

"They could work," said Angel. "But we'd have to throw them all over the place. I'm sure they've had people try to destroy the building before. We'd need to cause quite the commotion."

"WOULD YOU PLEASE LISTEN TO ME?" yelled Cordelia.

The three of them looker at her in surprise. They had never heard Cordelia really raise her voice before.

"You two," she said, pointing at Angel and Connor, "can't get in without being either detected or recognised withing the space of a few seconds. But they've never seen me or Wesley. We don't actually have to cause any damage. All we have to do is get Lilah away from Mirany for a while, giving the other enough time to get Mirany out of the place."

Angel, Wesley and Connor all blinked at her.

"That's actually smart," said Connor.

"There's no need to sound so surprised," Cordelia snapped.

"Trust me, there's every need," said Wesley.

Cordelia scowled at him.

"It is a good plan though," said Angel. "We agree on that."

"Yeah," Connor sighed. "Although I did want to cause some damage."

Angel rolled his eyes.

"Alright, here's what we'll do..."

...

"Hi," said Cordelia in a sickly sweet voice. "We're looking for Lilah Morgan. She said that whenever we needed to speak to her, we should come here straight away. She said she didn't care whether she was in a meeting or not."

The receptionist looked at her disbelievingly. Wesley sighed and pushed Cordelia out of the way.

"We have important information about the Slayer," he said. "We need to speak to her at once."

"Oh," said the receptionist. "You should have just said so. This way please."

Cordelia and Wesley followed her to Lilah's office and they sat outside, waiting for her to return. She came out a minute or so later.

"She'll just be a moment," she said before leaving them again.

"Did you bring the knife?" asked Wesley.

Cordelia nodded.

"And, can I ask where you're hiding it?" asked Wesley, staring at Cordelia's dress.

"No," Cordelia hissed, hitting him over the back of the head.

Wesley winced and composed himself as quickly as possibleas the door to Lilah's office opened.

"Hi," she said, smiling at them. "Please, come in."

"Bit risky saying that isn't it?" asked Cordelia as they entered the office. "I mean, what with vampires and stuff."

"This is a public building. Vampires can get in here anyway," said Lilah.

"Oh, right," said Cordelia, staring around.

She could see a large slit in the wall near one of the windows and a few small droplets of something dark on the carpet not far from it. Wesley gestured at them.

"Trouble?" he asked.

"It's not a problem," said Lilah. "We had someone in here yesterday who was a little...intolerating."

Wesley and Cordelia pretended to smile knowingly, but they both knew that it had not been an angry customer that had shed blood.

"You say you have information on the Slayer?" asked Lilah, gesturing for them to sit down.

Wesley noticed that his seat also seemed to have a few drops of blood on it, but he made no comment.

"Yes," said Cordelia. "We have news of her recent activities."

"Oh?" asked Lilah.

She seemed genuinely curious and it made Wesley wonder whether she really didn't know what Mirany had been getting up to, or whether she was just an amazing actor.

"Yes," said Wesley. "I've seen her around a bit. But if you don't mind, I'd rather we spoke of this somewhere a little more private."

"This room has tight security," said Lilah.

"I know," said Wesley. "I'm sorry but I must insist we go somewhere soundproofed."

"Of course," said Lilah. "I understand. Please, follow me."

Wesley rose to his feet, Cordelia stayed sitting. Lilah looked at her expectantly.

"I hope you don't mind," said Cordelia quickly. "I've just been feeling a little off at the moment and I was hoping I could just stay here while you two talked. I don't have anything to add to his statements, I just came along to get away from the kids for a little while."

Lilah smiled.

"Of course not," she said. "Please, make yourself comfortable. We won't be long."

"Oh, I'll probably leave in a moment," said Cordelia. "I can't be away for too long. I'll just take a minute or two then I'll leave."

"In that case, thank you for coming," said Lilah.

Wesley kissed Cordelia on the cheek, much to the disgust of both of them, and then he and Lilah left the office. Cordelia jumped to her feet the moment the door closed behind them and stared around.

_If I was an evil lawyer and had my younger sister as a hostage, where would I hide her?_

Cordelia knelt down beside the drops of blood of the floor and stared around, looking for a trail of some sort. She was in luck. There was a very small trail of blood droplets leading behind Lilah's desk. Cordelia followed the droplets, careful not to disturb anything, but she soon came face to face with a display of books, medals, diplomas and photo frames on the wall.

"Damn it," she muttered.

She pushed against a bare spot on the wall, but it didn't budge. She began to lift the books of the shelves, going as quickly as possible, scared that Lilah and Wesley would return at any moment. When that didn't work, she began to look behind the pictures, medlas and diplomas, searching for a button or some way to access what was sure to be a passage or secret storage compartment behind it. She scowled as she stepped back from the wall. She couldn't find anything that might point to a way to open the wall. She kicked the bottom of it angrily and it swung open, almost knocking her off her feet.

"Of course," she muttered, staggering against the desk before rubbing her foot where she had kicked the wall. "I can't find something like this in a safe, non-painful way."

There was a door behind the wall and Cordelia tugged at it. Thankfully, it wasn't locked and it opened silently. Mirany was lying on her side, half unconscious and slowly dripping blood. Her hands and feet were tied and she whimpered when the door first opened, before relaxing when she recognised who it was. Cordelia knelt down beside her, pulling out the knife and beginning to cut Mirany free.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

Mirany groaned as Cordelia pulled her to her feet.

"Okay, let's get you out of here," said Cordelia, half dragging, half carrying her out of the room. The wall swung shut and Cordelia pulled Mirany out of the office.

Lilah and Wesley still weren't back thankfully and the receptionist had disappeared so they made a quick exit, attracting veyr little attention from the people around them. Clearly, people being dragged through the building was an everyday sight. Cordelia helped Mirany out of Wolfram and Hart and into Angel's car. A few moments later, they were joined by Wesley.

"Any problems?" he asked.

"Only hers," said Cordelia, gesturing at Mirany.

"I'm okay," said Mirany weakly. "Just go before she notices."

Cordelia didn't need telling twice and as they drove away, a few security guards ran out of the building, staring around wildly.

...

"I should have known who they were," said Lilah.

"Well, you didn't," said Mirany, smirking at the screen. "And let this be a lesson to you. Don't kidnap Slayers with friends."

Lilah scowled at her.

"If you think that I'm going to give up, you are sadly mistaken," she said.

"Well then it's a good thing I don't think that," said Mirany. "However, I'm not going to be fooled by you next time. This war is almost at an end Lilah. Then we'll see who's the stronger."

"You think this was about strength?" asked Lilah.

"That's exactly what I think it was about," said Mirany. "You wanted to show me that no matter what I do, you're still gonna be able to take me down. To hurt me. You wanted to show me that you're stronger than me. And let me tell you, two can play at that game."

"I dare you to," said Lilah.

Mirany smirked.

"Don't worry. I will," she said.


	9. Countdown Part 1

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**There are two weeks left until the 'big bang' in case you'd lost count. I'm hoping I haven't lost count or counted wrongly or anything, but if I stick to my two week gap between each episode thingo, there should only be two weeks left. Sorry if I'm wrong. I'm gonna structure this one as a bit of a countdown and it'll probably spread over two chapters, possibly more, but we'll see how we go. Tell me if you like this sort of structure and I might do it a bit more often. It'll go from day 14 to day 1, 14 being two weeks away and 1 being the last day they have left, just to clarify. I might skip a day or two, depending on whether I can think of new ideas for each one, I might not. Anyway, enjoy.**

**_Day 14_**

Mirany banged her way into the hotel, dislodging the door from one of its hinges, looking extremely sulky.

"What's up?" asked Connor, staring at her with raised eyebrows as she slumped onto the couch.

"Your father is what's bloody up!" Mirany snarled.

Connor sighed.

"And here I was thinking that you two had made up," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "What happened?"

"We were looking for information on this explosion thing and he nearly got me killed," said Mirany. "We were in some demon's lair and he got the demon angry. It grabbed me by the throat and was waving me around, saying that it would kill me, which it fully intended to do, and Angel didn't do a thing. If I hadn't kicked it in the face, it would have strangled me."

"It would not have killed you," said Angel wearily, walking into the lobby. "Although I now regret not doing anything."

"I'm sure you do," said Connor.

Mirany glared at him.

"But...you shouldn't have," said Connor quickly and unconvincingly. "It was very wrong of you. She could have died."

Mirany didn't seem particularly happy with this, but she didn't complain further.

"So did you find anything out?" asked Connor.

"Only what we already know," sighed Angel. "Two explosions. They'll be contained to just LA so that the nearby towns can provide help quickly. It's not really a 'let's kill everyone in LA' sort of thing. It's more of a warning. Kill a couple of people, hurt the rest of them, and see if they can wipe us out."

"A warning?" asked Connor.

"Don't mess around with Wolfram and Hart," said Mirany.

"Why are they sending this warning? Do we know what happened to make Lilah so pissed off at LA?"

Mirany and Angel shook their heads.

"We should train," said Angel. "And we should also come up with a plan. I'll keep searching for where the bombs are going to be placed. That way we might be able to disarm them. They're sure to have spells or something around them, but we could try."

Mirany and Connor nodded.

"I'll meet you both in the gym in an hour," said Angel. "There's still some night left so I'll go check out a couple of alleyways."

"Don't hurry back," said Mirany coolly.

"I don't plan on it," Angel replied, glaring at her.

Connor held his breath as they both glowered at each other, but luckily, Angel turned and walked away.

"You're pushing it," he warned Mirany.

"He can take it," said Mirany carelessly. "It's not as though I said something really cruel."

"Not yet," Connor muttered.

...

**_Day 13_**

Mirany, Connor, Wesley and Cordelia sat around the table, looking at each other.

"I realise we can't make a proper plan until Angel arrives," said Wesley, "but surely we can start."

"Of course we can start," said Cordelia. "But we all know that the moment Angel gets back we're going to have to completely scrap it and start all over again. Mirany, get us a drink."

Mirany stared at her indignantly.

"It's _your_ house, isn't it?" asked Cordelia pointedly.

"It's not a house and I'm not getting you anything," said Mirany stubbornly.

"Girls, please, settle down," said Connor. "I realise that this is a tough time, but can we not fight. Mirany, can you at least get someone else to get us something and we'll try to come up with some sort of plan that we all agree dad will like."

Mirany and Cordelia were glaring at each other, but eventually Mirany got to her feet.

"I'll be right back," she muttered.

...

Connor sat down beside Mirany, who was curled up in a ball in her room, her back against the wall.

"How long exactly does 'right back' mean to you?" he asked. "It's been half an hour. Are you okay?"

"Is this it Connor?" she asked. "In less than a fortnight...are we going war? Am I going to...?"

"Mirany, you are not going to die. I won't let her hurt you."

"You can't know that," whispered Mirany. "You can't, you know you can't. And you are _not_ going to protect me. I don't need that on my shoulders as well."

Connor shook his head.

"You just don't get it, do you?" he asked. "I _am_ going to protect you. I'm going to protect you until the end of time if I have to. As long as I'm alive, I'm going to fight for you. And do you honestly believe that Lilah is going to kill you? This is Lilah we're takling about. She might have every intention of killing you, but when it comes down to it, when it's just you and her on the battle field, facing each other, both ready to kill, do you honestly believe that she'll be able to beat you?"

"But, if she doesn't kill me, then I have to kill her," said Mirany.

"Mirany, this isn't a duel," said Connor. "You are not living in the eighteen-hundreds. You have a choice. It's not an easy choice, but it's a choice. If you kill Lilah, you're going to have to live with the death of another person on your shoulders. If you don't kill Lilah, you might get killed yourself. It's not a good choice, but you still have to make it. And you can't know that Lilah will continue to try to get you out of her way. You can't possibly know that. All you can know is that she will either live or die at your hand. It's up to you. You are not a coward because you don't kill someone. You are a hero."

"No I'm not. I'm just a girl that can't drive the knife in any more. I'm not a hero."

Connor got to his feet and pulled Mirany to hers.

"Come with me," he said. "I want to show you something."

Mirany allowed herself to be dragged through the house until Connor pushed a door open and led her over to the piano.

"What are you doing?" she asked impatiently.

"Sit down," said Connor, pushing her down in front of the piano. "Play something. Play anything."

"Connor..."

"Mirany, you've told me before what it can do for you. I think right now you need it most."

Mirany stared at him but rested her fingertips on the keys all the same. She closed her eyes, tears still running down her cheeks and began to play, letting her fingers float over the keys, the music carrying her away from the rest of the world. Connor watched as her whole body relaxed and she seemed much more content. When she finished playing, she sat compeltely still, her fingers still touching the black and white notes.

"You'll be fine Mirany," said Connor. "You have to believe in yourself. You're more than capable of doing what's right."

"But what is right?"

"You'll know," said Connor. "Trust me. When the time comes...you'll know."

Connor offered her his hand. Mirany looked up at him for a moment before taking his arm and allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. Connor led her back through the house towards the room where the others were and they heard from the conversation inside that Angel had arrived.

"Ah, finally," said Wesley as they walked back into the room. "What happened to you?"

"Got lost," said Mirany shortly.

Angel snorted. Mirany glared.

"Alright, how's the plan going?" asked Angel.

"It's going, going, gone," said Cordelia. "We couldn't come up with anything. Well at least, nothing that any of us could agree on."

"Right then," said Angel. "Here's what I found out. Two bombs. The first bomb, placed near Wolfram and Hart in a sport shop, will be armed three minutes before it's set to explode. That's our time frame for that one. That explosion will arm the next explosion, which will be three hours after the first one. As far as I can tell, they're planning on somehow getting it into the hotel without our noticing. We should focus all our energies on disarming the first bomb so that the second won't be armed."

"Idiot," Mirany muttered.

They all looked up at her. Mirany sighed exasperatedly.

"You're speaking as though they won't have a back-up plan," said Mirany. "They will have a back-up plan, and it will be al ot more fool-proof than their original plan. Our best bet is to destroy the second bomb. The first one's a warning bomb. Yeah, it'll cause a bit of carnage, but ultimately, it won't be too hard to disarm. It's the second one that's going to cause real damage. We need to find it and break through it's spell barriers before it's even armed. If we can take it apart, then we'll be able to focus on the first one."

"That does make more sense," said Wesley. "Lilah's not an idiot. We can't bank on her being oblivious to what we're doing because it's just not true. We should..."

Before Wesley could continue, Mirany had snatched up a crossbow from underneath the table and shot it at the wall. There was a cry of pain and the camoflage demon revealed itself as it collapsed, crossbow bolt pointing straight out of it's heart.

"There'll be a whole lot more of those," said Angel. "How did you know it was there?"

Mirany smirked at him.

"If I told you that, I'd have to kill you," she said, then she paused. "...So, sure, I'll tell you."

Angel rolled his eyes and turned back to the others.

"Alright. So our plan is to go after the second bomb?" he asked.

The others nodded.

"What about the first one though?" asked Connor. "I mean, sure, the second one's going to be worse, but the first one won't be good either."

"If Cordelia and I work on the second bomb on the day, you lot can work on the first," said Wesley. "Before the day, if the second bomb is in the hotel already, which I doubt it will be, but if it is, we can all work on it. But on the day, you leave it to us and worry about the first one."

...

**_Day 12_**

"Mirany? What are you doing?" asked Lilah. "Shouldn't you be busy trying to figure out how to stop me?"

"Been there and done that Lilah," said Mirany. "Now I want to chat. Preferably without the spies that you keep sending."

Lilah smirked.

"So, you found me out."

"Lilah, I have killed nearly twelve of your precious information gathers and that death toll is only going to get higher. Play fair or don't play at all."

"You think this is a game?" asked Lilah. "You think I'm just playing?"

"No," said Mirany. "I think you're deadly serious. But I also know that you're completely loopy too. You find this a game. A game of patience and battle strategy. Now either you withdraw your demons or you withdraw completely."

Lilah laughed.

"I do not play games of battle strategy," she said. "That's always been your strength Mirany, you know that. Battleships and chess star that you are."

"That doesn't mean you won't try," said Mirany. "That just means you'll fail."

"Touche," said Lilah coolly. "What exactly do you want to talk about Mirany? I have a game strategy to perfect. What do you plan to waste my time with?"

"Oh, you know, the usual. Name calling, wit, trickery. Why don't we start with why? What's this going to achieve Lilah, besides a whole lot of mess that you'll be paid huge amounts to clean up?"

"Well, your question hardly warrants my answer," said Lilah.

Mirany sighed.

"Of course," she muttered. "You want something. What do you want Lilah, and no, I'm not going to give you my head on a silver platter."

"I wouldn't dream of it," said Lilah. "I won't have your head on a platter. I'll have it mounted."

"I'm sure it would add a great ambiance to your office," said Mirany sarcastically.

"I want the disc that you took from Wolfram and Hart," said Lilah.

Mirany shrugged.

"Fine," she said.

Lilah looked taken aback.

"You are more suspiscious of me than anyone else, yet you willingly hand over what I ask for without complaint?" she asked. "What are you playing at Mirany?"

Mirany chuckled darkly.

"You're as untrusting as I am," she said. "I'll give you your precious disc Lilah. Though I think you should be aware, I have a copy of everything on it. You want something on it, I will find out what it is and you will be no farther ahead in your little game than you are now."

Lilah didn't looked swayed at this. Mirany smirked.

"Except that you have no reason for this disc but to distract me," she said. "You never cease to amaze me Lilah. It could take me all of two seconds to figure out that there was nothing of use to you on that disc. Hardly a distraction in my opinion."

"It is but one of many," said Lilah simply.

"So do you actually want something or are you just trying to waste my time?" asked Mirany.

"The people in LA are far outnumbered by the demons," said Lilah. "Yet they still rule over them. I'm simply trying to even the odds a little."

"Lies," said Mirany at once. "If you don't want to tell me Lilah, you don't have to, but you could at least come up with a better story than that. And your poker face could do with a little work."

"Is there anything else I can do for you before we move on to the name calling?" asked Lilah.

"Well, apart from changing your genetic make up so that we're no longer sisters, I can't think of anything else," said Mirany. "But don't worry, if I do, I'll give you a call. What's your number again? 1800-666?"

Lilah chuckled.

"Something like that," she said. "I'll see you later Mirany. Have fun in your last week or so. I'd hate to kill you on a sad note."

"I think you'll find Lilah, that I'll be the one doing the killing," said Mirany frostily.

"Well, I look forward to it," said Lilah, smirking.

...

**_Day 11_**

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE IT!" Mirany screamed into her phone. "YOU HAVE TO HAVE IT! I SENT YOU THERE THREE WEEKS AGO TO GET IT!"

_"I...I'm sorry Miss...Miss Hunter, but they said it had already been bought long before I came," _said Barney.

"Okay," said Mirany, straining to keep her voice calm. "Did you find out who bought it at the very least? Did you try to chase them up?"

_"Well...I found out but I can't chase them up,"_ said Barney.

"Why not?" asked Mirany.

_"You're not gonna like it."_

"BARNEY!"

_"It was Wolfram and Hart. I couldn't chase them up. What would I have said? They would have known in a second who it was for," _said Barney quickly.

"Wolfram and Hart?" Mirany hissed. "Wolfram and Hart beat you to it? Listen to me Barney. I'm giving you one week. One week to get it. By the end of one week, if you don't have it, I will make sure you live the rest of your life in HELL!"

_"But Miss Hunter..."_

"YOU WILL BLOODY WELL GET IT! IF WOLFRAM AND HART HAVE IT, STEAL IT OFF THEM! I NEED IT!"

Mirany hung up before Barney could say anything else and turned around to run straight into Angel.

"God! Can you stop doing that?" asked Mirany frustratedly, stepping away from Angel, clutching her chest.

"What do you need?" asked Angel.

Mirany raised an eyebrow at him over her shoulder as she walked away.

"What can I help you with?" she asked pointedly.

"How's Lilah?" asked Angel, following her towards the bar.

"How should I know?" asked Mirany, bending down over the fridge.

"You were talking to her yesterday. You called her, not the other way around."

Mirany froze and took a sharp breath through her nose. The bottle in her hand smashed as she squeezed it. She straightened up slowly, her eyes closed, and turned to face him.

"You've been checking up on me?" she asked, opening her eyes slowly. "Who?"

Angel tilted his head slightly.

"And you're not going to tell me because you think that I'm going to go and kill them or something," said Mirany.

"So...?" he pressured.

Mirany glared at him.

"I tried to find information from the source," she said. "Sorry if I wanted to get somewhere."

"We are getting somewhere!" said Angel frustratedly. "Mirany, every time you seek Lilah out for information, you tell her that we don't have much. You may not say it out loud, but by going to her you tell her that she's winning."

"Angel, she already knows that she's winning, there's no secret there," said Mirany, scooping up the broken glass and throwing it in a rubbish bin before grabbing up a new bottle and passing it to Angel. "Don't worry."

Angel sighed.

"What did you find out?" he asked, cracking open the bottle.

"That Lilah wants to even the odds," said Mirany. "Try to even out the number of demons and humans around. One human to one demon instead of ten to one."

"So you know why, who cares?" asked Angel.

"I do," said Mirany simply. "I know what it's like to kill, I can't imagine how people tell themselves that it's alright to kill. I never did. I want to know how someone with a soul can rationalise killing someone."

Angel nodded slowly but his face was pensive.

"You don't believe me," said Mirany.

"In theory, I believe you," said Angel. "You want motive. But I know you and you're not exactly one to strive for the truth or anything."

Mirany sighed.

"She's my sister," she said, "and I need to know."

"You need to know what?"

"How two people from two caring, kind and respectful parents can both turn out to be killers," said Mirany.

"Mirany, you're being stupid. It's just coincidence."

"You can't possibly say that because we both know it's not true," said Mirany, bending over the fridge again. "There's always a reason. Always. There's a reason why we are the way we are. I just can't figure it out."

"Well, figure it out," said Angel, placing his bottle on the bar and walking towards the door, "before you get us all killed."

"Isn't that gonna happen anyway?"

Angel poked his head back inside.

"Not if we have anything to do about it," he said.

...

_**Day 10**_

"You're not cheering me up," said Mirany.

"You're not trying hard enough," said Connor.

"I'm not trying at all," said Mirany unenthusiastically.

Connor sighed and moved closer to her.

"Why not?" he asked. "You're stressed. You need me to cheer you up. The least you could do is co-operate."

"I am co-operating," said Mirany indignantly. "I'm here, aren't I?"

Connor smirked.

"You never cease to amaze me with your lack of compassion and caring, even towards yourself," he said.

"And yet here you are, not minding," said Mirany.

"How do you know I don't mind?" asked Connor.

"You're here, aren't you?" Mirany pointed out. "If you did care, you certainly wouldn't still be here, let alone still be inching closer to me with every word. Generally people who don't like my 'lack of compassion and caring' don't do that."

"Really? Well, consider me...someone that's not people," said Connor, grinning at her and leaning in closer to her.

Mirany smirked.

"I've known that for a long time now," she said, kissing him softly.

...

"OW!"

"Jeez, it's not that bad," said Angel.

"I have an arrow poking out of my shoulder and my stomach because you wanted to go patrolling when we really should have been gatheirng information and destroying Lilah's plans," said Mirany. "It is that bad and I'm holding you responsible."

"Hold still," said Wesley. "I've cut off the arrow head, now I have to take it out."

"Oh god no," Mirany groaned, gritting her teeth and shutting her eyes tightly. "Okay, go."

Wesley placed a hand on Mirany's shoulder and pulled the arrow shaft quickly from her joint. Mirany yelled and jerked away from him, heaving with pain, breathing heavily through her teeth and clutching at her shoulder. Connor ran his fingers through her hair comfortingly as Wesley tried to pry her fingers away from the wound.

"Mirany if you don't let me get at it..."

"How am I supposed to do anything with two holes in my upper half?" asked Mirany.

"They'll only be there for a day or two then you'll be fine," said Angel. "Sit in front of that enormous computer screen you have for a day. Relax for once."

"I can't relax while I'm in pain," Mirany growled at him.

"Mirany, move your hand," said Wesley worriedly.

Mirany paused before moving her hand away from her shoulder. Blood dripped from her fingers and she swallowed, staring at it.

"Hey," Connor whispered. "Now's not the time to be thinking about the literal picture of a figurative meaning at the moment."

Mirany raised an eyebrow at him.

"It made more sense in my head," Connor admitted.

"Hey, don't relax yet," said Wesley. "We've got another one to go."

"Do you have to do that here?" asked Cordelia. "She's bleeding all over the couch that I spend half my life cleaning, and her screams of agony aren't doing anything for my ears, or my concentration."

"You? Concentrate? Somebody call Ripley's," Mirany snapped.

"They could make a whole book on what they find in this place," said Angel.

"Brace yourself," said Wesley.

Before Mirany could comprehend what he had said, he had cut off the other arrow head. Mirany jumped to her feet and almost delivered a hook to Wesley's jaw if Connor hadn't grabbed her.

"Whoa," he said. "Calm down. I know it hurts, it's okay."

As he was calming Mirany down, Angel grabbed the arrow and pulled it out of her stomach. Connor didn't stop Mirany this time and Angel staggered back, massaging his cheek and re-adjusting his jaw.

"I hate being the Slayer," Mirany hissed, staggering against Connor as Wesley moved in quickly to bandage her. "I should be dead."

...

_**Day 9**_

Lilah paced up and down her office. There was a knock on the door.

"Enter," she snapped.

Lindsay walked into the office.

"Is it in place?" she asked.

Lindsay nodded slowly.

"Yes," he said. "Lilah, baby, calm down."

He ran his hands down her arms.

"Everything will be fine."

"Angel and Mirany are moving as fast as we are. They know where the bombs are. All they have to do is disarm them and it's over."

"Lilah, nobody can disarm that second bomb except for you," said Lindsay. "And possibly the bomb tech."

Lilah growled slightly and moved away from him. Lindsay sighed and followed her over to the window, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Everything will be fine," he repeated.

...

Cordelia yelled and ducked as Mirany's sword went flying out of her hand and at her head, lodging itself in the wall. Cordelia straightened up and stared at it for a moment.

"You do know that those things are supposed to stay in your hand right?" she asked.

"Sorry," said Angel. "I didn't see you and Mirany was pissing me off."

"You told me too," said Mirany indignantly.

"What are you even doing with swords?" asked Cordelia. "Shouldn't you be training to take on 'Lilah the Great' or something?"

"She's not great," Mirany snarled. "I could take her in a second."

"Then why are you so worried about it?" asked Cordelia.

"None of your bloody business," Mirany snapped.

"She's afraid she can't kill anymore," said Angel.

"Thank you for that," said Mirany sarcastically.

"Isn't it like 'once a killer always a killer?'" asked Cordelia.

"NO!" said Mirany and Angel together.

Cordelia held up her hands in surrender.

"Alright, don't kill me," she said.

Mirany pulled the sword out of the wall.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Oh, uh, you, actually. Someone called Dan called. Said he needed you right away. Sounded pretty scared. There was a bit of crashing and he was cut off."

"Ah crap," Mirany muttered. "Thanks. Gotta go. Bye."

She dashed from the gym with Cordelia and Angel staring after her.

"That wasn't at all quick," said Cordelia.

"Or suspiscous," said Angel. "I'm gonna follow her."

"Don't get killed," said Cordelia, fingering the hole in the wall.

...

Mirany walked into the bar and stared around in shock. It looked worse than what it looked like after she'd last had a fight there. She heard a groan from behind the counter and hurried around it to Dan's side. He looked dreadful. Blood covered his face and stained his clothes. A few of his teeth looked a little loose and he seemed to be just one big bruise.

"Dan! Oh my god, what happened?"

"Mirany...Lily was here..."

"It's just Lilah now Dan."

"No...always Lily...brought demons...thought...thought I was...helping you...they..."

"Dan, don't talk. I get it. You need to get to a hospital."

Dan smiled weakly.

"You're not...the only one who's not...what they seem," he whispered.

Mirany stared at him. Angel inched around the wall, keeping to the shadows, hoping she wouldn't notice him.

"Mirany...you have...you have to stop her," said Dan. "She's going to...to destroy everything...including...herself. Stop her...Mirany...it's the only way...to save her."

"If I stop her I kill her," said Mirany softly.

"Better dead...than not of the living," said Dan.

"...Is that true Angel?" asked Mirany, turning to raise an eyebrow at him.

Angel sighed softly. How he could ever have thought that she didn't know he was here...

"Yes," he said. "Yes."

Mirany turned back to Dan.

"Then I kill her," she said.


	10. Countdown Part 2

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Hey, trying something new with this one as well. Thought I might open my episodes with a quote, not necessarily from Angel, just a quote that reflects the basic theme of what's going to happen. The quote itself might not, in the context of when it was said, actually have anything to do with the episode, but alone, it should be alright. Tell me what you think of it and enjoy part 2 :)**

* * *

_**"The era of procrastination, of half-errors, of soothing and baffling expedience of delays is coming to a close. In its place, we are coming to a period of consequences. We cannot avoid this period. We are in it now." - Winston Churchill**_

* * *

**_Day 8_**

"There is little over a week left before the whole of LA may possibly be destroyed by _your_ sister and you want to sleep all day? You know you're dreaming, right?"

"I wish I was," said Mirany pointedly. "Although, my dreams at the moment aren't exactly good, but they're better than staying awake and dealing with you all day."

"Get up," Angel snapped, grabbing her arm and all but dragging her out of bed.

"No Angel! If you keep me awake today then I will make it my mission to get drunk so that I'll have a hangover tomorrow. So not only will I be no use to you today, but I'll also be no help tomorrow either."

"Good point," said Angel. "But you can hold your alcohol pretty well so until you do get drunk, do something worthwhile."

Mirany groaned and shook Angel off as he continued to pull her over to the door.

"I can walk by myself," she snapped. "And don't you think that perhaps you could be nice to me for just one day? Just one?"

"Yeah, I could be nice to you for one day, but that day is not today," said Angel.

Mirany muttered a small stream of obsenities under her breath and ducked when Angel tried to hit her for it.

"Is Connor coming around today?" she asked, scowling at him.

"No clue," said Angel impatiently. "Why don't you pick up your phone and call him yourself to find out? And while you do that, I have to go and actually do something constructive, which is a big word that I'm sure you've never heard of before, but it means something useful. When I get back I expect you to do the same with the stuff I've asked you to do."

"But that's like, three entire things," Mriany groaned. "I don't think I've ever worked so much in my life."

"Well, get used to it," said Angel.

Mirany scowled at him again.

"Weren't you leaving?" she asked coolly.

"Yes," said Angel. "I'll be back later and I expect at least one of those things to be done."

He walked out and Mirany gave his back a mock salute as she poked her tongue out at him.

...

"What do you mean, you don't have any?" asked Mirany frustratedly. "You specialise in this stuff, don't you? It's what you sell all the time. How can you not have any?"

_"I'm sorry,"_ said the store-keeper, whose name Mirany had forgotten a second after he'd said it, but she was sure it started with a J...or was that a M? _"But we sold out of them this morning."_

"Look Jack..." said Mirany, struggling to keep her voice level.

_"My name's Matthew,"_ said the storekeeper.

"Jack, Matthew, they sound the same, who cares?" Mirany snapped. "You're supposed to have this stuff. Lots of this stuff. Are you seriously telling me that someone came in and bought your entire stock? I thought your stuff was expensive. I mean, it's not every day that you get magically sealed bombs. Aren't your kits like, four thousand each or something? And you've got what? Two hundred of them. That makes eighty thousand bucks. That's not cheap."

_"I know, but that's precisely what someone did,"_ said Matthew, sounding relieved that she had figured it out. _"It's never happened to me before. Why is everyone so interested in my stuff at the moment? Is something going to go down? Actually, don't answer that. Anyway, a woman came in yesterday, sold us out. Had more money than I think I've ever seen in my life. Sold out the entire shop, not just the bomb kits."_

"A woman?" asked Mirany. "Did she leave a name?"

_"Uh, yeah,"_ said Matthew. _"Mirany. Mirany Hunter. Wait, isn't that your name?"_

Mirany snarled and hung up on the man, massaging her temples.

"Damn you Lilah," she muttered. "Damn you."

"Mirany, you here?" asked Connor's voice.

"Hey," said Mirany, looking up as he came in. "I was just about to call you."

"You look pissed. Are you having a moment? Should I come back later?"

"What? No," said Mirany. "And since when do I have 'moments?' Don't be ridiculous. Sit down."

"Okay so...if you're not having a moment then, what's up?" asked Connor, sitting down beside her.

Mirany took off her earpiece and waved it at him.

"Lilah's what's bloody up," she snapped, throwing the piece of electrics on the table angrily. "Angel asked me to see if I could get any bomb disabling kits desinged specially for magical bombs, only every place I've called has said that they're sold out. Guess who sold them out?"

"Lilah?" Connor asked.

"How'd you guess?" asked Mriany sarcastically.

"How many places have you called?" asked Connor.

"At least five. And not only have they been sold out of their kits and stuff, they've been sold out of their entire stock. Everything. I mean, this might be big, but I seriously doubt that the senior partners gave Lilah that much money for it."

"It's Wolfram and Hart, don't try to understand what they're thinking," said Connor, playing with Mirany's hair.

"The worst part of it is that she's using my name," said Mirany. "She's taunting me. She knew what we were going to do."

"Don't let her taunt you then," said Connor. "Don't let her get to you."

"Too late" Mirany muttered dully. "I'm doomed to spend the rest of my life letting her taunt me."

"What about normal places? I mean sure, they don't deal with magic ones, but they might have something useful."

"Way ahead of you," said Mirany, throwing the phone book in front of him and gesturing at the many red crosses on the page. "Sold out by one, Mirany Hunter."

"Okay, _I_ feel taunted now and I'm not the one she's taunting," said Connor. "What are you going to do?"

"Solve the problem," said Mirany.

"Don't even think about calling Lilah," said Connor at once.

Mirany frowned at him.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because it's what she wants," said Connor. "She's probably sitting by the phone, waiting for you to call her so that she can mess with you some more. Every time you talk to Lilah at the moment, you doubt yourself because of something she says. Take a lesson from previous experience and find another way."

"Nobody asked you to be so smart," said Mirany muttered.

"Prerequisite of living with Wesley," said Connor carelessly. "You pick things up. So...what are you gonna do?"

...

**_Day 7_**

"Where is she?" asked Angel, pacing frustratedly.

"She said she's coming, don't worry," said Connor.

"She's really not taking this seriously enough," said Angel. "We've got one week. One week to stop Lilah and she's late."

"She is taking this seriously," said Connor quietly. "You just haven't seen her."

Angel an eyebrow at him as Mirany walked in.

"Sorry, sorry, I know I'm late. I was helping Dan. You know that man can heal at an incredible speed."

"How is he?" asked Connor.

"He's still hurting, but he's walking around, pretty much himself again," said Mirany.

"Okay, can we get back to the bomb?" asked Angel impatiently.

Mirany stared at him.

"You could show a little compassion," she said. "Aren't you the one that's supposed to care about Dan and I'm the one that's supposed to care about the bomb? What happened to your niceness?"

Angel rolled his eyes.

"Wesley found it," he said.

"The first one? Doesn't really surprise me," said Mirany.

"The second one," said Wesley, coming out of his office. "Don't ask me how they got it into Angel's apartment without anyone noticing anything, they just did."

"Wow, she doesn't like you," said Mirany, smirking at Angel.

"Thanks for that insight," said Angel sarcastically.

"So, have you figured out how to disarm it?" asked Mirany.

"Well, it's not armed. We can't actually disarm it until the day," said Cordelia.

"I've bene trying to find something that'll break through the spell barriers so we can just take it apart," said Wesley.

"I'm guessing no luck?" asked Mirany.

"He's been from his office to dad's room about twenty times already with all sorts of stuff," said Connor. "He came back down abotu an hour ago with blood painted on his face."

Mirany shuddered.

"You don't mind if I don't join in, right?" she asked Wesley. "I'll just stick to the killing Lilah problem if that's okay with you."

"Right there with you," said Cordelia.

...

Angel walked into his dark office and stopped, staring at Mirany.

"Is there a reason you're sitting at my desk?" he asked, pushing her feet off the surface.

"One week from today, one of us dies," said Mirany.

"Okay, that's probably a fairly morbid way to start a conversation but I'll bite. Why are you at my desk?"

"Seemed like the best place to brood," said Mirany.

"Well, there is years of brooding experience there but I doubt you'd really pick up on it," said Angel. "Mirany, are you okay?"

"I don't know," said Mirany.

"Mirany...why don't you leave?" asked Angel.

Mirany looked up at him.

"What?" she asked.

"Leave LA," said Angel. "Come back when it's all over. Then you won't have to worry about Lilah and stuff."

"Yeah, but then I'll have to worry about you guys," said Mirany. "I could come back and you'd all be dead. I just imagine that going down well."

"Well you need to do something to get Lilah off your mind for a few days," said Angel. "Seriously Mirany, you're acting like me."

"I'm guessing that not a good thing?" said Mirany.

Angel shook his head.

"The last time you acted anything like me you were killing guys in the graveyard every couple of nights," he said.

"Point taken," Mirany sighed. "But...what am I supposed to do? We both know there's no way in hell that could kill Lilah. I can't even kill someone I don't know anymore. I loved Lilah. There's no way I could...what do I do?"

"If you think that you still love her, you'll do what you think is best for her," said Angel. "Whether that's killing her or not is up to you."

"She almost had Dan killed. He said I should kill her."

"No," said Angel. "He said you should stop her. You said the only way to do that was to kill her and he helped justify that. But if you don't think it's right, don't do it."

"Then she'll kill me," said Mirany.

"I said don't kill her," said Angel. "I didn't say don't stop her. Just find another way. And do it in your own office."

...

_**Day 5**_

"Security cameras? Really?" asked Mirany. "They've already put the bomb in. What do you need security cameras for?"

"Just in case," said Angel. "Oh, just by the way, you paid for them."

"How?" Mirany growled.

"Here's your credit card," said Angel, handing back the piece of plastic and smirking at her. "Took it from your wallet."

"You stole my card? I'm going to kill you," said Mirany. "What else did you buy?"

"That's it. I stole it when you walked in," said Angel. "Stealthy's my middle name."

"I would have noticed," said Mirany. "My wallet is in my pocket. How could I not notice you take it out, grab my card and put it back?"

"I don't know," said Angel, shrugging. "I guess there is much you still need to be taught."

"I hate you," said Mirany. "You could have just asked."

"Where's the fun it that?" asked Angel, grinning at her. "Patrolling or brooding tonight?"

"Patrolling," said Mirany, scowling at him.

"Good," said Angel. "You don't suit the brooding thing. Where?"

"Somewhere with no one to witness me stab you," Mirany growled. "Couldn't you have bought something worthwhile with my money,r ather than a security system that you won't even know how to review because you're ancient and don't know how to use a computer."

"I know how to use a computer," said Angel indignantly. "And I'm thinking ahead. When someone tries to sneak around, I'll know about it."

"If that bomb goes off, it'll be a total waste of money," said Mirany.

"You've got plenty to spare," said Angel pointedly.

"That's not the point," said Mirany. "You are not going to use them."

"We'll be see about that," said Angel. "So, where am I meeting you?"

"You're not coming," said Mirany. "Connor is. I'm never going patrolling with you again. I always end up in pain."

"It's not my fault you act before you think," said Angel.

"No, but it is your fault for not stopping me," said Mirany. "One day I'm gonna killed when you could have stopped me and then you'll feel guilty."

"I doubt it," said Angel, walking away.

...

"Is Angel insufferable to you too or is it just me?" asked Mirany as they walked through the graveyard.

"Just you," said Connor.

"I suspected as much," Mirany muttered. "Oh hey, vampire, two o'clock."

As Connor moved to intercept the vampire, Mirany followed and watched as he fought with it.

"Why is he so mean to me?" she asked.

"I don't know. I don't pretend to be an expert on dad's head," Connor grunted.

"Maybe he's got a grudge against you," suggested the vampire.

"I'm not talking to you," said Mirany, throwing her stake at him and watching him burst into dust. "Although, he might have a grudge. But why? What did I do to deserve him being such a bastard?"

"Nothing, he just doesn't like you," said Connor, handing her stake back. "I don't know why, I don't know how you can fix it, and I don't know why you care. You don't like him any more than he likes you."

"I know but he's supposed to like me. He's supposed to set a good example," said Mirany. "How am I supposed to learn how to be nice form him if he's always mean to me?"

"Don't know," Connor sighed. "But why don't you worry about this later? Let's kill us some more vampires."

...

**_Day 4_**

"Everything is ready and in place ma'am," said the man. "The day before the plan we'll set the first bomb."

"Good," said Lilah. "I guess it's time to give my favourite sister a call."

"Do you have to?" asked Lindsay. "You get all stressed and stuff after talking to her. She gets to you."

"And so I have to take my revenge and get to her," said Lilah, typing a command into her computer and waiting for the connection to come up.

"I think this is a bad idea," said Lindsay.

Lilah ignored him as the screen came up. Mirany was typing with lightning fast speed on her computers, running from one side of the room to the other.

"I thought you were supposed to exercise in a gym," said Lilah.

Mirany jumped and spun around to stare at the screen, putting her headset on.

"Lilah," she said, pulling on the gloves that controlled the main screens in the room. "What do you want?"

"Well, things on my end are going well, I was just wondering if you were having as much luck," said Lilah.

"Um...yeah," said Mirany, flicking at a screen and beginning to move things around on the screen she was facing. "We've found the bomb in Angel's room and disabled it and everything, so we're good to go."

Lindsay swallwoed as Lilah glared at the screen, then at him.

"You've what?" she snarled.

"Disabled the bomb," said Mirany absentmidedly, obviously not paying Lilah much attention at all. "And the one in the shop was no trouble either."

Lilah smirked, knowing that she was lying.

"How, may I ask, did you disable a bomb that hasn't been placed yet?" she asked.

Mirany paused.

"Don't know what you're talking about," she said after a moment. "I'm really busy right now Lilah."

"Yeah, busy trying to find a way to break through the barriers around that bomb," Lindsay muttered.

"Who was that?" asked Mirany, grinning evilly at Lilah.

"No one," said Lilah warningly.

"Oh no, that was a definite someone," said Mirany. "A definite male someone. Is that Lindsay? Am I keeping you from something?"

"I called you," Lilah reminded her.

"Yeah, but you've always been a multitasker," said Mirany carelessly.

"Have fun trying to stop me," said Lilah, cutting the connection. "Why did you have to say something?"

"I didn't think it would pick it up," said Lindsay quickly. "I was muttering to myself really."

Lilah sighed, rubbing her temples.

"What if they actually have disabled that bomb?" she asked.

"They can't," said Lindsay. "No spell in the world can break through those barriers except for the one that you have and we created that spell. They'll never find out. Don't worry."

...

Mirany smirked at the screen as Lilah's face disappeared and continued to sort through the information from several screens.

"There are spells for everything," she told herself. "It can't be that difficult to find a spell that will take down those barriers."

"Tried the Wolfram and Hart data bank?" asked Connor.

"Okay, that is the second time in the past ten minutes that I have been scared by someone I didn't think was there. Am I losing my touch?" asked Mirany, turning around.

"Absolutely not," said Connor. "I'm just really quiet. Who scared you the first time?"

"Lilah," said Mirany.

"Well, she was on a computer screen, it's different."

"What were you saying?" asked Mirany.

"Check Wolfram and Hart's data base. Maybe they've made their own spell."

"I knew that," said Mirany quickly, hurrying over to one of her computers and beginning to type.

"Sure you did," said Connor, sitting down and watching her dash around the room again.

"But seriously, why are you here?" asked Mirany.

"Didn't want to hang around dad and Cordelia. They're having a moment."

"A moment?" asked Mirany.

"You know how you and dad are at each other's throats all the time? Well, occasionaly, it happens with the two of them, only Cordelia always wins."

"Why?" asked Mirany.

"Because he's afraid of what she'll do to him if she loses," said Connor.

"He's afraid of her, but he's not afraid of me?" asked Mirany. "Not quite sure I'm seeing the logic here."

"Cordelia lives with us. She can do all sorts of things to torture him for the rest of her life. He doesn't want that," said Connor simply.

"Ah hah!"

Mirany turned to Connor.

"Ah hah!" she said again, grinning at him. "Behold the magic that is...the magic."

She paused.

"That didn't quite work the way I wanted it to," she admitted. "But still."

She pointed at the screen.

"I found it," she said.

"No, what you've found is a heap of ones and zeros," said Connor.

"Watch the master and learn young grasshopper," said Mirany, slipping on a pair of sunglasses. "This is technology at it's finest."

Connor watched in fascination as Mirany began to type rapidly and the numbers slowly turned to letters, rearranging themselves to make words. After a few minutes, the spell was flashing at him on the screen.

"Awesome," he breathed.

...

_**Day 2**_

"After much ranting, raving and cursing, he finally managed it," said Cordelia. "Took him long enough. I mean, he had the spell and everything."

"It's a difficult spell to perform at the best of times," Wesley snapped. "I don't even have any magical powers. It wasn't as if I could just say the words and it would work. There was a ritual to perform and the words aren't exactly easy to pronouce, especially in Latin."

"Ah Latin, one of those dead languages you always mean to learn," said Mirany. "But it worked?"

"It did," said Wesley. "Now all we have to do is figure out how to either take it apart, or disarm it."

"Can't you just throw an axe at it or something?" asked Connor.

"It'd blow up," said Angel. "We're better off trying to disarm it than trying to take it apart. One wrong move and LA could be destoryed a few days early. We chould try to find out all we can about the bomb and try to figure out how to disarm it once it has been armed."

"Wow, he's actually smart," said Mirany. "Congratulations Angel on acquiring a brain."

Angel growled at her and Mirany poked her tongue at him, giving him a daring look, willing him to make a move.

"Once you two are finished," said Cordelia, scowling at them both, "you could maybe go on a round, see if anyone knows anything."

"No one will," said Mirany.

"Yeah, Lilah would ahve been real careful about the actual making of the bomb," said Connor.

"Then get onto the Wolfram and Hart data base and see if you can find anything," said Wesley. "Blueprints or something."

"Already tried," said Mirany. "Either they've hidden it away in a very good hiding spot or they haven't risked putting it into their main frame."

"So basically, we're stuffed," said Connor.

"Wesley, you and Cordelia go and see what you can find about any sort of bomb stuff," said Angel. "Mirany, have another look at Wolfram and Hart, Connor, you and I are hitting the streets."

"This is all going to be pointless," Mirany muttered. "She's going to destroy us all."

...

_**Day 1**_

"One more day," said Lilah. "One more day and I won't have Mirany annoying me any longer."

"Let's just pray she doesn't do a really good job of annoying you today," said Lindsay.

"She won't," said Lilah. "No matter how far they've gotten, they'll never be able to get rid of the bomb, even if they somehow manage to get through the barriers. Those blueprints are on paper and there's no trace of them on a computer. The first bomb is in place and even if they manage to stop that one, I can set off the other one straight away. Nothing can ruin my mood today."

"Really? What a shame," said Mirany from the computer.

Lilah jumped and pushed Lindsay away from her at once.

"Too late," said Mirany. "I already saw him. I've been listening in for a while now."

"Which means that you know this call is pointless, so why are you still on my screen?" asked Lilah.

"Just wanted to check in. You know, make sure you were all set for tomorrow," said Mirany. "Just check that you don't want to change your mind."

"If I did, you'd know about it," said Lilah. "And it's not me that you need to worried about. Are you prepared for tomorrow?"

"Uh...yep, I think so. Got my knife, my gun, my trusty stake. I've never been too sure about whether or not you're a vampire. Lindsay, I would keep an eye on that. If she makes a move for your neck, holy water works really well. Of course, both of you working for Wolfram and Hart means that you're fairly evil anyway so holy water might work just as well on you even if you aren't vampires."

"What do you want Mirany?" asked Lilah pointedly.

"Just to make sure that Lily really is gone," said Mirany.

Lilah blinked.

"Goodbye," she said firmly, disconnecting Mirany.

"Lily?" asked Lindsay.

"That was a long time ago," said Lilah. "And it's not important any more."

...

"Mirany, my office is not open for anyone who wants to brood," Angel sighed, leaning against his desk and folding his arms as he looked down at the teenager expectantly. "Why are you here?"

"Just trying to absorb some of the brooding energy so i can take it back to my own study," Mirany lied.

"And the real reason?" asked Angel.

"I called Lilah earlier," said Mirany. "She's completely prepared. She said we'll never figure out the bomb. The first one's been placed. She has a platter for my head. And when I called her Lily...she didn't show any trace of vulnerability. I'm just hoping that my plan will work."

"So you have a plan?" asked Angel.

Mirany nodded.

"I have several," she said. "But I planted the seed for this one, so this will be Plan A. I have plans through to Q."

"And what's this one?" asked Angel.

"Try to find her. Try to reach her."

Mirany looked up at Angel.

"Like you did with me."

"Hmm, as much as I like the 'open your heart again' option, do you really think it's going to work? She's been working for Wolfram and Hart for years. How do you know there's any heart left to open?"

"I don't," said Mirany. "Maybe that's why I'm doing this. I want to find out."

"Plan Q had better be a bloody good plan," said Angel.

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**Okay, yes, I skipped a day or two, but I was running out of ideas and I hadn't updated this story in a while. So yeah, tell me what you think about the quote, maybe give me one of your own for season 2, which *segue* is currently being written at the moment. Yeah, so I'm better at the spotaneous ideas than the set course structure :P Anyway, the next chapter is also being written and should be up in the next week or two (sorry if it takes longer, I'm not great at performing on demand either). Don't forget to review :)**


	11. The Big Bang

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**And we have made it! Are you excited? I'm excited and I know what's going to happen :P Yeah, I have on occasion been called weird or crazy or something along those lines. Actually, I call myself weird at least three times a day :P Weird, I know. Anyway, please enjoy this one. This is the second last episode of the first Angel season. Oh my god, I've come so far :P So have you guys though, putting up with my writing for the past however long it's been. Anyway, I'll stop blabbering now. This one is again in a different format. I can't help it, I have to try to new things or I get bored. Don't be confused. This is in first person from Mirany's perspective which should become clear pretty much straight away, but just to make sure, I'm telling you now. The next one may possibly be in first person too, it might not. I'll see how this one goes. So enjoy and review at the end :D**

* * *

**_"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week." - George Patton_**

* * *

Yeah, I had been prepared for this day for a long time, but I never expected it to be quite the way it was. I'm sorta sad that I'm surprised. I should have seen it coming. I know perfectly well that my plans never work quite the way they should, in fact, they rarely work at all. I suppose I was just hoping. Hoping that it wouldn't turn out to be quite the mess it became. But it's too late to change it now.

...

"Mirany, please tell me that you did not spend the night drinking," said Angel.

"I did not spend the night drinking," I said, surpressing a hiccup.

Angel sighed.

"How I ever expected you to do something sensible the night before we could all be blown up is beyond me," he muttered to himself. "Do you have any idea of the importance of today?"

"Yes Angel," I said through gritted teeth. "And I had one drink. I don't have a hangover and you should remove your face from my personnal space bubble right now before I make the plan much more difficult to pull off. Having a man down really puts a dent in it."

Angel straightened up and tossed my keys at me.

"You ready?" he asked.

At the time, I thought I was.

...

"So we're all clear on what we're doing?" I asked.

"You, Connor and Angel are going to try to disarm the first bomb after we finish this meeting," said Cordelia tonelessly. I may have gone over it one too many times. "You'll have until two pm. Wesley and I will stay here and try to disarm or dismantle the second bomb. If your bomb goes off then he have three hours to either disarm it or get out of town, depending on whether things are looking bleak or not. We don't need it lecutred to us another time. Even I can remember it."

"Good," I said, bouncing up and down nervously on the balls of my feet. "And if we call you..."

"We'll leave town right away," said Wesley. "You'll call if there's absolutely no way that you can do anything about the bomb and it'll be safer if we all just leave. You'll also call, if possible, if you've been caught by any of Lilah's thugs."

I caught the message by his slightly annoyed tone.

"I'm getting paranoid aren't I?" I asked.

"Only in the literal sense," said Angel. "We'll leave in half an hour, that gives us three hours. Don't want to risk being there for too long, we'll raise too much suspicion from Lilah."

"Right," I said. "Well, see you in half an hour."

I all but dashed from the lobby and out into the street, walking along it aimlessly, turning a pocket knife over in my fingers.

"Is that plan Q?"

I turned to look up at Connor.

"No," I said, pulling a hunting knife from my ankle. "This is plan Q."

Connor whistled impressively at the long weapon.

"You ready?" I asked, putting the knife back.

"I don't know," said Connor. "I guess. Fingers crossed we come out of this alive."

"Your fingers are wasted on me," I said. "Who am I kidding? I can't kill Lilah. Plan R, when plan Q fails, is use the knife on me."

"Mirany, stop putting a dampener on this," said Connor, brushing my hair back behind my ear. "You have..."

He counted on his fingers.

"...16 more plans before anyone dying comes into the picture."

"Yeah, but none of them are very fool hardy," I said.

"Mirany, it'll be fine," said Connor, wrapping his arms around my waist and drawing me closer into him. "Trust me. You'll be fine. And there's no way on earth that you'll go through with plan R anyway. You love yourself too much."

I grinned.

"It's as if you know me," I said.

...

"I'm not going up there," I said, looking apprehensively at the rickety old ladder that the store manager had let Angel use. "I don't care whether you two will be standing here to catch me if it collapses, you are not getting me up that thing. I don't need to die until later today."

"You're not going to die Mirany," said Connor.

"I am if I get on that ladder," I said.

"What? You scared?" asked Angel.

I knew he was challenging me, knew I should just ignore him and continue to press my point, but I couldn't help myself. I don't take taunting well.

"Fine," I said, glaring at him. "I'll go up there. It's not as if you'd have the brains to disable that thing anyway."

"It's true I don't have Wesley talking in my ear," said Angel, gesturing at the ear bud I was wearing.

"That's not Wesley doofus," I snapped. "I recorded the instructions to my ipod last night so I wouldn't have to memorise them."

"You did something smart? Did it make your brain explode or something?" asked Angel. "This is big news. I could call in..."

"I would shut up now if I were you dad," said Connor pointedly.

Angel caught a glance at my expression and decided to take Connor's warning at heed.

"Go on then," he said, gesturing at the ladder. "Start climbing."

I did, but at a very slow pace which Angel scoffed at. I heard Connor whack him and wanted to look but I didn't dare mvoe any more than I had to on this thing. When I reached the top of the ladder I was almost face to...explosives with the bomb.

"Tweezers," I muttered and Connor tossed the tweezers at me.

I began to sort through the many different wires, carefully parting them while making sure that they stayed connected to whatever they were connected to. I didn't want to risk the thing going off early and taking my face off with it. My ipod was mumbling mixed up instructions in my ear and I sighed. Okay, so I had lied to Angel. I'd had a few last night. The problem was that now I had no clue which of the wires I was supposed to snip or reconnect.

"Taking your time there Mirany," said Angel pointedly.

"I may have forgotten to put in how to figure out which wires go where," I said, biting my lip.

Angel and Connor groaned.

"What do we do now?" asked Connor.

"Don't worry I'll figure it out," I said. "It'll just take some time."

"Time we don't have," said Angel. "We've got two hours and no way can you figure that out in time. I'm calling Wesley."

"You're giving up? Just like that?" I asked. "What sort of a man are you?"

"A sensible one," said Angel, pulling out his phone. "Damn it!"

"Hmm, a sensible man who didn't charge his phone," said Connor, sounding amused as he looked over Angel's shoulder. "There goes that plan."

"You two have phones as well," said Angel. "Hand it over Connor."

"I think Mirany should get a chance," said Connor. "And you do give up way too quickly."

"Give me an hour," I said. "If I haven't done it by then, we'll call Wes and Cordelia."

...

An hour and a half of frustrated thinking later, I still hadn't done it. I suppose it was to be expected. I'm good at the reading of instructions, but memorizing them...not so good. Angel was getting more and more impatient.

"Just stop Mirany," he said. "At least we'll still have some time to get out of the place."

"I'm not leaving. I'm not giving up," I said. "What about the rest of the people out there? The people that don't know something big's about to happen. They're going to die."

"Mirany, if you don't stop you'll still be up there when it blows you up," said Connor.

"At least I won't have to deal with you ever again," said Angel.

"You'd go to hell too," I said pointedly.

"True. Then I'd have to spend the rest of eternity with you...from now on it is my sole duty to make sure that only one of us dies at any one time," said Angel.

"I feel so loved," I said sarcastically.

"Mirany, stop," said Angel. "We ned to get out of here. I'm calling Wes."

"I'm not going," I said firmly. "I'm going to help everyone else. You two go. Get Wesley and Cordelia and get out."

"Mirany this is stupid," said Angel angrily. "You can't stop this and unfortunately you can't save those people."

"They are innocent people going about their lives," I said. "I'm not just going to let them all die!"

"Guys..." started Connor.

"Mirany, if you leave then Lilah must stop," said Angel. "You don't know that what she said was true when you asked her why. It's far more likely that she's doing this for you. If you get out then might decide to stop."

"I know Lilah and she wouldn't stop," I said. "Even if I was gone. I'm staying right here."

"You two really should..." Connro tried.

"You're coming with us," Angel growled. "Sometimes the best thing for everyone is just to leave."

"I'm not you," I snarled, jumping down from the ladder and sizing up to him. "I don't leave when things get too messy. I'm staying here and I'm going to try to help. If LA's going to go up in flames then god damn it, I'm going with it!"

The silence that followed seemed to stretch on for hours. I was glaring at Angel defiantly as he stared at me in shock. It was Connor who finally broke the silence.

"We're almost out of time," he said. "We don't have time to run anymore. Call Wes if you want dad but we have no choice now. We need to stay and try to get as many people away from here as possible."

"How do we do that?" asked Angel. "Run around screaming 'we're all going to die' or something? Somehow I don't think that'll work."

"Do whatever you have to do," I said. "Just get people out. How long do we have?"

"Ten minutes," said Connor.

"Just tell people to run. Tell them to run as fast as they can in the opposite direction. Get them out."

The next few few minutes we spent trying as hard as we could to get people to leave, and I have to say we got a fair few people away, but there were the few that still wouldn't listen, even when they were shown the bomb. It didn't surprise me. I would have thought it was just a trick or something too if I hadn't known about it. Still, there were a good number of people still walking around the place minutes before the bomb was due to go off.

"We can't get them all out," said Connor. "It's too hard, they don't believe us."

"We can't do any more," said Angel. "This is it. If they're not gone then too bad. We've got two minutes. Do you think maybe it's time for us to run?"

The moment he said that we were off. It's amazing how fast you can run when pumped with adreniline, but that wasn't really helpful. I felt sluggish, like everything was in slow motion or something and when I tried to push through this feeling, I couldn't. I checked my watch. One minute. I pumped my legs as hard and fast as I could, but it wasn't fast enough. Ten, nine, eight, seven...We all stopped. There was no point. We'd never get out of the blast radius in time. Four, three, two, one.

**BOOM!**

Angel, Connor and I were all thrown off our feet as the bomb blew up. There was stuff flying everywhere, fire climbing high into the sky and people screaming. That was the last thing I knew before the ground and blackness hit me.


	12. Death Day

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**This is a continuation of the last story. I think it's been about 2 and half hours or something like that. Enjoy.**

* * *

_**"So you have enemies? Good. That means you stood up for something, once in your life."- Winston Churchill.**_

* * *

Mirany opened her eyes slowly, painfully, looking around as best she could through the dirt, sweat and blood that has crust up around her eyes. Her body was searing with pain from the battering she had taken, and everywhere she looked she could see black, burnt rubble and earth, an occasional spot fire here and there, even a few bodies; the aftermath of the explosion.

She pushed herself up onto her forearms, ignoring the pain that coursed through her body as she moved, and saw Connor and Angel lying unconscious a little way away. She hoped that Wesley and Cordelia had managed to disable the last bomb. That was the only thing that mattered now, because when Mirany caught sight of Lilah walking towards her, a look of fixed determination on her face, and Mirany knew that the time had come. It was death day.

...

_"Lilah!"_

_Mirany and her family had just gotten off the plane and Lilah was waiting for them at the terminal._

_"Hi," said Lilah, hugging them all in turn._

_"Congratulations on the job," said Julie._

_"Oh, thank you," said Lilah, smiling._

_"Have they finished the house?" asked Mark. Mirany noticed that he was a little tense. He hadn't been like that on the plane._

_"Yes, it's all ready to go. At least, most of it is. There are a few little things they're still working on. Apparently they've never built a house this big so they're still working on the last finishing touches; the garage, the shed, stuff like that."_

_"Well it sounds good enough," said Mark. "Mirany, Jason, come and help me with the bags and we'll get out of here."_

...

Lilah was getting closer and Mirany rolled onto her back, her breathing fast and uneven and her mind racing faster than her heart.

"There has to be a way," she mumbled. "Has to be a way."

She tried to clear some of the dirt from her eyes so that she could see more clearly, but it wasn't about to shift without a fight and when Mirany dislodged a few specks, she thought they had taken some of her eyelids with them so she stopped and lay there, waiting for Lilah to bring her destiny.

...

_"What do you think?" asked Lilah as they pulled up outside the house._

_"Wow," said Mirany. "It's much bigger than our old one. We're gonna get lost in there a fair few times."_

_"Yeah, that's what this is for," said Lilah, holding up a small house plan. "Map."_

_Mirany and Jason laughed._

_"Come on Mirany, I'll show you your room. I made sure they did it exactly the way you wanted them to."_

...

Lilah stopped above Mirany.

"And here she is. The broken hero. Making amends for her crimes."

"Lily..." Mirany whispered.

Lilah kicked her hard in the face and she recoiled, testing her jaw to make sure it wasn't broken.

"That person is long gone," said Lilah shortly.

"No," Mirany muttered. "Otherwise...otherwise I'd already be dead."

Lilah's foot connected with her stomach this time.

...

_The family was at the dinner table, laughing at something her brother had said. Mirany couldn't even remember what it was, but she was still laughing. Beside her sat Lilah, who was starting to recover from the joke. She'd been with them six months now. A phone rang and Lilah gave them an apologetic look._

_"I should get that, sorry," she said, getting to her feet as she took her phone out of her breast pocket._

_She had become a better sister to Mirany than Mirany could possibly have imagined. They were about as close as it was possible to be and it had only been half a year. Mirany told Lilah everything. All her secrets, her fears. She wasn't just a sister, she was a best friend. She was about to go on a trip to work overseas for a while, and Mirany's parents were going on a holiday at the same time. Mirany knew who she was more likely to keep in touch with._

_"I have a work emergency," said Lilah. "I'm so sorry but I really should go."_

_"Of course," said Mark. "We understand. Go Lilah."_

_"Do you have to go Lily?" asked Mirany, dejected._

_"I'll be back soon I promise," said Lilah, hugging Mirany. "We'll do that movie tomorrow night okay?"_

...

"How brave you were, fighting for justice this whole time," Lilah sneered. "You've gotten in my way just one too many times Mirany. I don't care how valuable an asset you are to the company because we all know that you're not going to join. Might as well do away with the waste."

"Lily, please," said Mirany, coughing and bringing up blood. "Think about this."

"The time for thinking is over Mirany," said Lilah. "You only have so much time left before the next explosion. Thinking should not be on your planning list this time. It's time to act."

...

_Mirany didn't know what was going on but it couldn't be good. She had called her parents, but they couldn't speak to her properly. They had told her not to tell Lilah until they had come back but Mirany decided that if they had said that, Lilah must know something about what was going on. She wasn't going to wait until her parents got back from their trip. That could be ages away. She dialed in Lilah's number and waited nervously._

_"Mirany, weren't we going to video conference later today? Why are you calling me now?"_

_She sounded kind of annoyed but Mirany didn't care._

_"Lily, I don't know what's going on."_

_"What do you mean? What's happened?" asked Lilah, sounding concerned._

_"I don't know. Mum and dad couldn't tell me and I don't know what to do. What am I supposed to do?"_

_"Mirany, slow down. What are you supposed to do about what?"_

_"I'm too fast, I'm too strong. I just nearly sliced my hand in half when I was trying to cut something and it just healed right back up in front of my eyes. What's happening to me?"_

_There was a pause on the other end of the phone._

_"Lily?"_

_"Mirany, I'm in a meeting right now but I'll talk to you about it over the video conference okay?" said Lilah. "Don't worry Mirany. It's not bad. It's very, very good. Something very special has happened to you Mirany and you should be very grateful. You're the only person who's going to be like this for a long time so you take care of yourself until later okay? I'll explain to you a little later."_

_"Okay."_

_Mirany hung up and stared at the phone. What was Lilah doing in a meeting at that time? Where she was it was about two in the morning. But it didn't matter. Someone was going to explain to her. That's what she wanted._

...

"What changed Lilah?" asked Mirany weakly. "What happened to you?"

"You changed," said Lilah. "You became the Slayer."

Mirany struggled to her feet, coughing again and bringing up more blood.

"You were with us for another year before you left," she snapped.

"Trying to get you to join Wolfram and Hart," said Lilah.

"You never asked me," said Mirany.

"We still had parents at the time," said Lilah. "Even Wolfram and Hart does have to follow the law occasionally when dealing with people as rich as our family. If I had gone straight to you, Wolfram and Hart would have been facing the law suit of their nightmares."

"You knew I was the Slayer, you knew our parents were Watchers. They would never have agreed." Mirany swallowed down more blood. There was less every time so at least she was healing, but would she heal enough in time to fight Lilah?

"And you're absolutely right because they didn't," said Lilah. "I pressured them a little more each time and eventually they had had enough. Told me to move out. Our father at the very least saw right through my act from day one. I had already been working for Wolfram and Hart for years, working my way up the ranks. He knew I was just trying to get more assets for the company."

"I know all this," said Mirany. "I know how you played us, I know why. I want to know how it felt, knowing that you were betraying the trust of a young girl who saw you as more than just a sister. How did it feel knowing you betrayed a girl who saw you as a best friend? How did it feel Lilah? Was it a good feeling? Were you happy with yourself?"

...

_Mirany stood outside her father's study, listening intently to the fight that was taking place inside it._

_"YOU CANNOT RECRUIT MY DAUGHTER!" Mark was roaring. "YOU CANNOT RECRUIT ANY OF MY FAMILY!"  
_

_"THINK ABOUT THIS MARK!" Lilah was yelling back. "THINK WHAT GOOD YOU COULD DO WITH THE POWER THAT WOLFRAM AND HART HOLDS!"_

_"I ALREADY HAVE ALL THE POWER I NEED, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! TOO MUCH IN FACT! BUT AT LEAST I DON'T ABUSE IT!"_

_"MIRANY IS THE SLAYER. SHE NEEDS BETTER GUIDANCE THAN WHAT A BOOK TELLS HER TO DO!"_

_"AND SHE'LL GET IT FROM ME!" yelled Mark._

_Mirany had had enough. She crept back down the corridor before running back to the safety of her room._

...

Lilah stayed silent.

"ANSWER MY QUESTION!" Mirany roared at her. "WHAT DID IT FEEL LIKE LILY? WHAT DID IT FEEL LIKE TO BETRAY ME?"

"I hadn't meant to get so close to you," said Lilah. "That was a mistake, and I payed for it. We all did. Before America we had nothing to do with each other. I thought it would stay that way."

"YOU COULD HAVE STAYED THE SAME!" Mirany yelled. "YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO BECOME SUCH A BITCH THE MOMENT AFTER YOU LEFT!"

"I WAS ALREADY A BITCH!" Lilah yelled back. "ONLY YOU DIDN'T KNOW IT!"

Mirany stared at her. The yelling match she had just had with Lilah had made her throat quite sore again and she could taste more blood in her mouth.

"No you weren't," she said shakily. "You were nice once Lilah. Back then...you weren't anything like you are now. What happened to you? You were always so strong. You would never have let Wolfram and Hart change you like you have changed. What happened?"

"You still don't get it do you?" asked Lilah. "Lily never existed Mirany. Lily was just a cover to get you to trust me."

"No, Lily was much, much more," said Mirany. "And you know it. Lily was you. Lily was my sister. My best friend. Lily was kind and funny and caring. But Lilah. Lilah's just a bitch. Just another power hungry person in this city."

"And what are you?" asked Lilah. "A harmless little girl with a big mouth? You are no better than me Mirany."

"Yes I am," said Mirany. "I care. I care enough that I will risk my life to stop you."

"Only that much?" asked Lilah.

Mirany was taken aback.

"Honestly Mirany, do you think that your life is going to be enough?" asked Lilah. "Do you honestly believe that if you sacrifice your life, this will all go away? Do you think that I would be here if you risking your life would stop all this? I'm here to kill you Mirany. Does that sound like something I would do if your life stopped all this?"

"I..."

"What were you hoping to achieve by coming here? Were you hoping to stop Wolfram and Hart? Were you hoping for clarity? Have you got it? Have you found out what you wanted to know? Are you ready to die, Mirany?"

"I didn't come here for clarity," said Mirany. "I didn't come here to die. I didn't come here to stop Wolfram and Hart. I came to stop you Lilah. I came for Lily. I came for my best friend."

"Then you're going to die for nothing," Lilah snapped. "The woman you knew is gone Mirany, and she's not coming back. You failed. I hope you're happy."

...

_"WHY DID YOU LEAVE?" Mirany yelled. "WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME?"_

_"Everything's about you isn't it?" Lilah sneered. "Me, me, me. I want this, and I want that. The poor little rich girl with the big puppy dog eyes. Well you can't get me back Mirany, no matter how much you wail."_

_"Lily..."_

_Mirany could feel tears in her eyes._

_"Tell Mark he got his wish," said Lilah. "And don't contact me again."_

...

"She is still there. You can still stop this," said Mirany urgently. "There are innocent people out there who are going to die. Children and mothers and families. You are going to kill them all. You can't want that. You can't possibly want that on your conscience. Do you really know what it's like to kill? Do you really know what it's like to have something like that weighing on your shoulders?"

"No," said Lilah. "But I don't care, because I don't have a conscience any more. I've condemned people to death before. I will do it again."

"Then god help me, I will kill you," said Mirany. "You know I will."

"You can't kill," said Lilah. "Not any more. I have to thank Angel for that at the very least. He opened your heart, made you feel again."

"And I'm going to try to do the same for you," said Mirany. "I just hope you'll listen to me before I have to do something I don't want to."

"You remember that day?" asked Lilah.

"Of course I do," said Mirany. "It was the first time you tried to recruit me."

...

_"Mirany, I need you to listen to me."_

_"I'm not joining Wolfram and Hart!" said Mirany angrily. "Now leave me alone!"_

_"Mirany, you listen to me or I will have to do something I don't want to," Lilah threatened._

_"Yeah, that's a great way to get people on Wolfram and Hart's side. Well guess what, your threats don't work on me. I don't want to see you again Lilah. If I do, I will hurt you. Goodbye."_

...

"Do you even realise who you said it to?" asked Mirany. "Did you even stop to think about what sort of reaction I would have to my own sister threatening me? We both know I didn't care if you did something to me, but for you to have the nerve to suggest that you would do something like that. What the hell were you thinking?"

"Another mistake on my part," said Lilah calmly. "It seemed to have some sort of an effect on you though."

"Yeah, it made me angry. It made me really angry. Up until then I didn't hate you. After that I did."

Lilah smirked.

"How do you know that it wasn't supposed to make you angry?" she asked. "How do you know if I wanted you to be angry or not?"

Mirany glared at her.

"You don't," said Lilah. "As far as picking when I'm playing with you Mirany, you're still absolutely pathetic at it."

Mirany was chewing on her tongue now.

"Lily, listen to me. You are not a bad person, I know you're not. Somewhere in your heart, you know that too. There is still time. You don't have to do this. You can stop this."

"Mirany, you can't 'touch' me with your fake tears and your puppy dog face," said Lilah smoothly. "You've got twenty minutes until the next bomb blows up. You shouldn't waste it with me."

"You're exactly the person I'm going to waste it with," Mirany snapped. "Because if I'm going to die here today, then you're coming with me and we both know it. No one's going to be able to get to you in time to get you out now, and I'd stop you from running before you got two metres away. We're both trapped. We may as well talk."

Lilah looked uncomfortable at this. She knew that what Mirany was saying was completely true.

"So now you have another dilemma," said Mirany. "Not only do you have to make sure I don't reach that tiny shred of good that must still be somewhere inside you otherwise I'd already be dead, but now you have to decide whether you want to die for your troubles. If nothing else, surely you have a sense of self-preservation."

Lilah remained silent.

"Lilah, please," said Mirany. "You will be killing Wolfram and Hart's three most important and powerful prospective assets by letting this happen. You will be destorying everything you have been working on for years. Are you really going to let that happen?"

Lilah turned away from Mirany, staring around at the scene.

"You have so much to lose," said Mirany. "Too much."

She coughed again, not bringing up any blood this time, as Lilah pulled a small remote from her pocket. Mirany noticed that she had put an emergency override on the remote. Obviously she had wanted to make sure that if something did go wrong, she would be able to put a stop to it. However, there was also a button to detonate the bomb before the countdown had finished. Mirany couldn't be sure whether Wesley and Cordelia had managed to disable it so she had to try to get Lilah to stop it. They stood there in silence, both looking at the remote, then Lilah took a deep breath, and, before Mirany could react, pressed the button.

...

_"You're the Slayer," said Lilah._

_"Yeah, that's what mum and dad said but they couldn't tell me what that was," said Mirany._

_"Let me make one thing very clear Mirany. It is not a bad thing. It's a very good thing. You're destined to do amazing things. Things that will benefit so many people. You are going to do so much good Mirany."_

_"How?" asked Mirany. "I'm no superhero Lily."_

_"But you will be," said Lilah. "You will be a superhero. The best superhero. The reason you're so strong is so that you can kill vampires and demons and witches and zombies and whoever else needs to be eliminated. You will save lives, help families. The champion of the human race. You'll be little less than a god to everyone you help. And it will feel so good. So don't be afraid of these powers because they're so special. They're so, so special. And they're so important. You're the only person who can fight the vampires. You're the only person who can fight the good fight. Don't ever forget that Mirany. Don't ever forget it and don't ever abuse it. Your reason for existing is to help, not to hurt."_

...

Mirany braced herself, but there wasn't an explosion. She had done it. She had managed to stop her.

"And so the broken hero wins again," said Lilah. "How does this feel Mirany? To save so many lives yet not get any recognition? The faceless champion of the hapless human race."

"Better than the destroyer," said Mirany. "I don't want the recognition. I just want to help."

"Then congratulations," said Lilah sarcastically, walking away.

"You can't walk away from me just like that Lilah," said Mirany and Lilah paused.

"When I know I can talk to you without you turning back into a fourteen year old, then I won't walk away," said Lilah over her shoulder.

Mirany glared after her as she walked away, but she couldn't summon the energy to follow her. She dropped down beside Connor and tried to shake him awake. After a few minutes, Connor groaned and opened his eyes.

"Mirany?" he muttered. "What happened? Where are we? Are we dead?"

"Do you feel pain?" asked Mirany.

"Yeah," said Connor.

"Then we're not dead," she said.

"So Wesley and Cordelia..."

"They did it," said Mirany, deciding it wasn't the right time to explain what had happened to him.

"And Lilah...?"

"Gone, for now," said Mirany.

"That's great," Connor mumbled. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to faint now."

Mirany stroked his forehead he as did so, staring around at the scene again.

"It's over," she muttered. "It's over now."

...

"Here again?" asked Angel, walking into his office to find Mirany sitting in the dark. "Don't you have a desk at home to brood at?"

"Wesley and Cordelia told me that they couldn't disarm the bomb," said Mirany. "Which means that I managed to convince Lilah not to set it off. But surely it wasn't that simple."

Angel leant against the wall, considering her.

"I mean, this is Lilah we're talking about," said Mirany. "There's always a catch."

"Maybe not," said Angel. "She couldn't have gotten away in time. It was self-preservation."

"That would make sense if it was a normal person," said Mirany. "But this is Lilah. She's from Wolfram and Hart. They always have ulterior motives. There must be something I'm missing."

"Mirany, go to sleep. Get some rest," said Angel. "There'll be plenty of time to worry about that later."

Mirany didn't move. Angel moved around his desk to lean beside her.

"Mirany, please. It's all over now. Stop worrying for a while," he said. "Go and get some sleep and be happy. You saved so many people today."

"The faceless champion of the hapless human race," said Mirany.

"Did Lilah say that?" asked Angel.

"Yeah," said Mirany, looking up at him. "Is that what I am?"

Angel shook his head, smirking.

"After all this time Mirany and you're still listening to what Lilah tells you?"

"But it's true," said Mirany weakly. "I fight the vampires and the demons and I stop the wars, but does anybody ever take any notice?"

"Yes," said Angel. "All those people you've helped, they know something's out there. There are so many people out there who know what stalks them every night. But not only do those people know about the monsters, they know about the saviours. Sure, they don't know it's you, but they know that someone's keeping them safe. That someone cares. That someone is out there, fighting for them. It may not be recognition in your book, but it should be, because that's the best sort of recognition. The sort of recognition that doesn't get people running up to you in the street, screaming your name and taking pictures left, right and centre. Just knowing that everyone out there knows that someone is helping them. They don't know who, they don't know why, but they do know that they're safe as long that person is around."

"But that's exactly what Lilah meant," said Mirany frustratedly. "They may know that there's a champion out there, but does that champion have a face? No. No one knows who I am. What I do every day. No one ever comes up to me and says 'thank you for saving my life' even if they've seen me. They just walk away and carry on with their daily lives."

"But why would you want that?" asked Angel. "Why would you want people coming up to you all the time asking you for help and thanking you for giving it? I know you Mirany. You'd hate it. You like seclusion. Mirany, this is exactly what Lilah wants you to do. Don't let her get to you again. Not straight after this. Get some rest, be happy with what you've acheived and tomorrow will come. There'll be more vampires to fight, more demons to kill, and more lives to save. There always are."

...

"Well, I've ceratinly had enough excitement to last a lifetime," said Connor.

"Too true," Mirany muttered darkly. "Well, at least we got the job done."

"You did well Mirany," said Connor. "I'm proud of you."

Mirany smiled up at him.

"Thanks," she muttered.

"I have something else to say to you," said Connor.

"Oh really?" asked Mirany. "And what might that be?"

"Happy birthday," Connor whispered, kissing her.

Mirany sighed.

"I kinda hoped you'd all forget, what with all the action and stuff," she said.

"Why?" asked Connor. "It's special. I mean sure, it wasn't the best birthday in the world, but it means something Mirany. You can't just brush it off."

"I know," said Mirany. "I guess I just...I didn't think it was really very important, you know, in the scheme of things."

"Mirany, you're the Slayer," said Connor. "I hate to break it to you, but you probably only have a limited amount of birthdays left. You were close to not having this one. You should be happy. Every second of your life counts from here on out. Don't waste them."

Mirany looked away from him.

"I'm going away," she said.

Connor blinked.

"What?"

"I'm going back to England," Mirany told her hands. "N...Not forever or anything, just for a while. Just a few months."

"Oh," said Connor.

"I'd like you to come with me," said Mirany, biting her lip and looking up at him with hopeful eyes.

Connor blinked again.

"Come...with you...to England?"

Mirany nodded. Connor grinned and pressed his lips to hers.

"Yes."

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**This is the end of my first season of fan fiction. I hope you enjoyed it. Please comment so that I can make the season even better. Oh, and for those who recognised one of the lines, yes, it is one of my favourite Doyle quotes. Those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, well, I'm not going to tell you, figure it out :P Did you like the quote at the start? I really wanted to put one in and I had a few to choose from, but I thought this one was the best in the end. Let me know if you have a favourite quote that I could somehow relate to a future episode and I'll see if I can slip it in. Thank you so much to my regular readers and I'll put more up soon, I promise. Once again, please put up a review so I can get some feedback.**


	13. SEASON 2 Conspiracy

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**And Season 2 is underway! *insert cheering here* Welcome to my next round of Angel episodes. I've decided to just add them onto this one because it's too much bother to make a whole new story and you might never find again anyway so yeah, easier. I hope you enjoy these new installments and don't forget to comment regularly.**

* * *

**_"Character is who you are under pressure, not who you are when everything's fine." - Dr Lance Sweets (Bones)_**

* * *

Connor knew the moment he walked into the hotel that he was in for a long night. Angel and Cordelia were both giving him that 'If you don't spill every detail I'll make your life a living hell' look and he definitely was not up to making up some sort of excuse not to tell them anything and avoiding them for the rest of the night. He sighed quietly and braced himself for a wave of questions, most of which had probably already been answered by the pair of them already.

...

Mirany moaned as she checked her email and message bank. She would probably spend the next week in front of her computer, sorting through all the information. She knew most of it was probably junk, but if there was something important in there, she didn't want to miss it. Stretching her legs and yawning as jet lag started to take effect, she looked around the mansion and knew she was finally home.

...

"You screwed Mirany Hunter. Did she seem experienced to you?"

Connor glared at his father.

"I didn't say that," he said. "I said I slept in the same bed as her towards the end of it."

"Yeah, but Mirany being Mirany and you being a teenage guy," said Cordelia. "Doesn't take a genius to figure that one out."

"We didn't...never mind. You two obviously aren't about to listen to reason. Can I go to bed now?"

"No," said Cordelia.

"Yeah, we want details," said Angel. "Come on, contribute to our conversation."

"I'm not going to because there is no conversation to have," said Connor. "And even if there was, this is far from a conversation. I'm going to bed."

He made to get up but Cordelia and Angel kept him firmly in his seat.

"Not yet," said Angel.

"We're not done yet," said Cordelia.

"You know, it's kinda freaky how you two are finishing each other's sentences," said Connor.

"You cannot go to bed until..."

"...we here what we want to hear."

Connor sighed.

"Even if it's a lie?" he asked.

"You don't lie," said Angel. "Come on Connor. We know you did it. Just admit it. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I feel like I'm being interrogated," Connor muttered.

"You are," said Cordelia. "Now, tell us the truth. Did you or did you not get it on with Mirany Hunter?"

...

"What are you doing here Angel?" Mirany sighed. "I was hoping I would get at least one day to settle back without you."

"When we were talking about connecting with other people, what did you think I meant?" asked Angel, pulling her into a seat at the table and placing a beer in front of her.

Mirany raised her eyebrows at him.

"Starting early?" she asked. "Doesn't seem like you."

"It's nearly seven pm," said Angel.

"Oh. Guess I dozed off."

"Anyway, back to the question," said Angel.

"Um...talk to people, learn stuff about them and be friendly?" Mirany guessed. "Why?"

"Just how friendly did you think you needed to be?" asked Angel.

"Okay, how long did it take you to get Connor to say anything?" asked Mirany.

"An hour or so," said Angel.

"Then don't you think maybe he was lying to you so that he could go and get some peace and quiet?" asked Mirany.

"Connor wouldn't lie to me," said Angel. "I'm his father. He knows it's a stupid thing to even try. I always pick up on lies."

"Then in your old age, you've gotten slack and have started to miss the signs because we didn't do anything," said Mirany.

Angel smirked.

"We didn't stop at whether you did anything or not," he said. "We asked for details."

Mirany choked slightly on her drink.

"Why would you ask for details?" she asked.

"Doesn't matter why, you just confirmed that you've been lying to me," said Angel. "You know, you sound very practiced. Some of things Connor was talking about were fairly...advanced."

"Don't even think about it," Mirany snapped. "I'm not a slut."

"Could've fooled me," said Angel. "I didn't even know that half of those positions were possible for the human body."

Mirany was gripping onto the table so hard that when she finally let go, the wood had splittered under her fingers.

"Look," she said, forcing a calm tone, "I have other stuff to do, so if you don't have anything but pointless nonsense to talk about, please leave."

Angel looked at her curiously.

"You've changed," he said. "If I had said that to you a few months ago you would have beaten my head in."

"Don't think that I'm not considering it," said Mirany threateningly.

"Doesn't matter whether you're considering it or not. Right now, you're not attacking."

He smiled.

"That's a good thing," he said. "You should be proud of yourself."

"Angel, I'm really busy. Please just...leave."

Angel got to his feet.

"Change isn't always a bad thing Mirany," he said, leaving the room.

...

Connor groaned as his phone began to beep at him. Cursing under his breath, he picked it up.

"Connor," he muttered.

"Connor? Connor, are you there?"

Connor straight bolt upright, suddenly wide awake. Mirany sounded scared, terrified even.

"Mirany? Mirany, what's wrong?" he asked. "What happened?"

"We have the girl," said a male voice. "Do as we say and say doesn't need to get hurt."

"Who are you? What have you done to her?" Connor snarled.

"We're willing to give her back to you if you co-operate. We need you. You want her back, meet us out the front Union Station at four pm tomorrow. Come alone. You tell the police and we'll put a bullet between her eyes."

Connor heard Mirany whimper.

"How do I know she won't be dead by then?" asked Connor.

"Connor just do it!" Mirany yelled.

"Shut up!"

Connor heard Mirany squeak then begin to sob.

"Tomorrow, Union Station, four o'clock. Don't be late."

"No, wait..."

The voice on the other end of the phone hung up. Connor stared at the phone for a moment before jumping to his feet. Getting dressed in now time flat, he dashed from the room, not pausing in the lobby except to snatch up the keys to Angel's car, ignoring the started looks he was receiving from the others.

...

"How does this work?" he yelled frustratedly at the computer. "Why don't you have instructions?"

Connor hit the desk angrily and paced around the room. It was Mirany that knew how to work all the computers in here, not him. But Mirany wasn't there and Connor was determined to find where she was before four o'clock tomorrow.

_Who can do it? I don't know anyone who could..._

Connor sighed. He did know someone, but he really didn't want to go there.

_Got no choice._

Connor typed the number resentfully into the computer and waited. After a few moments Lilah appeared on the screen.

"Mirany, after the last time I didn't think I'd ever...you are not Mirany."

"Not since the last time I checked," said Connor.

"What are _you_ doing on my screen?" asked Lilah, sounding curious.

"You know what? This was a bad idea, maybe I'll just..."

"Too late now," said Lilah. "What do you want and how did you manage to call without Mirany ripping you in half?"

"She's in trouble," said Connor. "I know you're not feeling particularly kindly towards her at the moment, but I really need your help."

"With what?" asked Lilah.

"Mirany's been taken. I don't know by who and I don't know where she is. They called me. I want to trace the call but I have no idea how," said Connor. "And, I know you have all the resources and stuff, and even better, you know how to use them."

"Why would I help you?" asked Lilah. "I'm holding a big grudge against Mirany."

"I'll owe you a favour. One favour. I'm a valuable resource to you and you can use me. But only once. As long as you don't make me sign a Wolfram and Hart contract, you can make me do whatever."

Lilah considered him.

"Deal," she said. "Give me the number."

"555-17..."

"Not yours," said Lilah impatiently. "I already know yours."

"Oh um...555-2691."

Lilah typed the number into her computer and began to mvoe her fingers across the keyboard with speed to rival Mirany's.

"Ooh..."

She looked up at him.

"You're gonna have your work cut out for you unless you can forge Mirany's signature...and copy her voice, her irises...pretty much her whole body."

"Okay, why do I have to clone her?" asked Connor.

"Are you much of a conspiracy theorist?" asked Lilah.

"Um...not particularly. I've heard the occasional Mirany rant but I've never really taken any interest."

"Well, you should," said Lilah. "This is top secret clearance. She's been taken by someone very high up on the food chain."

Connor swore and turned away.

"The sort of clearance that a CEO of Wolfram and Hart would have," said Lilah.

Connor paused and looked up at her.

"Would you?" he asked.

"That favour is gonna be big," said Lilah. "Meet me here tomorrow at twelve."

...

"You're what? Connor, tell me what's going on right now or I swear..."

"Dad, I do not have time for this," said Connor impatiently. "I'm only telling you this because I know that you'd flip if you didn't know. Dad, I don't need your permission on this one, I just...I need to know that I can count on you to do everything you can if I don't pull through."

Angel sighed.

"You're getting in deep son," he said.

Connor smirked.

"Good thing I know how to swim," he said.

"Connor, be careful. There's a good chance you'll get yourself killed," said Angel. "Are you sure this is what you want to do? Why not just meet?"

"Because I can't be sure that they'll hold up their side of the bargain," said Connor. "And I'm willing to take the risk."

Angel stared at him.

"She really means something to you, doesn't she?" he asked. "You'd go to the ends of the earth to get her back, wouldn't you?"

"And further," said Connor, leaving the office.

...

"You just stay quiet and look pretty," said Lilah, straightening Connor's tie and looking him up and down, frowning slightly. "It'll have to do."

"Hey," said Connor indignantly. "You're here on invite only."

Lilah chuckled.

"I think you'll find that that's the other way around," she said, tapping the visitor's badge on Connor's chest. "You don't lose this while we're inside. If you're not my visiotr, you're personnel, and they don't have any data on you."

"Do you know why they want me?" asked Connor, sitting down.

"No idea," said Lilah. "But whatever it is, it's not legal."

"If it's not legal, then why is it top secret?" asked Connor.

Lilah raised her eyebrows at him.

"Almost everything top secret isn't legal," she said.

"Which is obviously why you've got clearance for it," said Connor, smiling as charmingly as he could manage at her, trying to make it look like a joke rather than a statement.

"Oh don't try that with me," Lilah snapped at him. "The smile only works for the younger generation of Hunter."

"Works for a lot more than that," said Connor. "Girl outside seemed to like it."

"Does Mirany know you're flirting?" asked Lilah.

Connor smirked at her.

"What Mirany doesn't know can't hurt anyone," he said. "And it's harmless flirting. Just a smile or two to get what I need when I need it."

"When Mirany finds out I want to see," said Lilah.

"If that's the favour you're calling in then I'm feeling pretty darn relieved," said Connor.

"You wish it was that simple," said Lilah. "Now, don't stray away from me. Without you I have no reason to be there and they'll get suspiscious."

"Got it," said Connor.

"And whatever you do, do not talk to someone unless I say so."

"You already said that," said Connor.

"No, I said to stay quiet and look pretty, but because you're not your father I just thought I'd make it perfectly clear."

Connor's mouth began to curl into a smile.

"Excuse me?" he asked. "Did I just hear you say that Angel, my dad, looks pretty?"

"The point I was trying to make is that he's naturally quiet," said Lilah, and Connor couldn't tell whether it was the make up she was putting on her face that was making her cheeks pink or not. "You on the other hand don't seem to take that avenue."

"If I did, I'd be sitting in a dark office, brooding," said Connor.

"It'd be a better plan than this one," said Lilah, checking her watch. "Alright, let's go. Brace yourself for a bumpy ride."

...

"Oh my god," Connor groaned as he staggered out of the car. "You drive worse than dad."

"I drive worse than a lot of people," said Lilah.

Connor looked around. They were in the middle of a clearing a few miles of of LA.

"I don't see any buildings or anything," he said. "Please don't tell me that this was all a trick and you brought me here to kill me because I really don't need that today."

Lilah scoffed.

"I have better uses for you," she said. "Just wait for a moment."

Connor sighed and stood waiting for something to happen, scowling at Lilah, who ignored him.

"And...now."

The ground beneath them began to decend into the earth and Connor watched in amazement as an underground base revealed itself.

"Welcome to one of the few top secret clearance facilities in LA," said Lilah, pulling him through to a door where she scanned her eye and opened it. "Don't touch any of these. You'll set off an alarm and the place will be filled with gun toting security guards in...I think the response time is one minute."

"Not touching," said Connor. "Can we just hurry this up?"

"Follow me."

Lilah led him through the building and the several security scans until she stopped at a door and gestured inside.

"This is where the call came from," she said. "I'll wait here."

"If you leave or do anything behind my back..."

"You will kill me, I know, I know," said Lilah. "What is with you lot and the empty threats?"

"You think this threat's empty? You do anything I don't like and you should lock your doors at night. I'm not dad. I don't need an invitation."

He opened the door and peered inside. It looked like an ordinary office and he opened it further when he was sure there was no one in there.

"There's no one here," he said.

Lilah looked inside.

"This is where the call came from and you said they had Mirany in the room with them."

Connor began to search the room for anything that might help as Lilah watched.

"You know, it wouldn't kill you to join in," he said.

"I'm not going to get my hands dirty for Mirany," said Lilah. "So far it's been a breeze and I want to keep it that way."

Connor rolled his eyes and continued his search. He noticed some drops of blood on the carpet.

"She's been here," said Connor.

"Yeah, I know that already," said Lilah impatiently.

"They've got to be here somewhere," said Connor, straightening up.

"Well, you're under pressure," said Lilah, checking her watch. "We've got half an hour."

"What? How did that...?"

Connor ran his hands through his hair, looking around the room for anything.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY OFFICE?"

Connor and Lilah both turned to see an angry man walking down the hallway. Lilah straightened up.

"Was this your office Hanley? Oh gosh I'm sorry. I must have taken him to the wrong office. That's why you couldn't find your phone," she said to Connor, her face willing him to play along as Hanley came up to them.

"Who's office were you looking for?" asked Hanley.

Connor knew that voice from the phone and chanced a glance at the man's knuckles. They were red and looked bruised.

"You. You've got her. Where is she?"

He dived at Hanley and grabbed him around the collar, shaking him. Lilah jumped in.

"Connor," she said firmly. "Stop. Let him go."

Connor let Hanley go abruptly and took a small step back and Hanley glared at him, then he swing his fist into his jaw.

"Connor!"

"You're him," said Hanley, smirking as he spat out a mouthful of blood. "So glad you could make it boy."

Lilah scowled and grabbed Hanley's ear, dragging him into his chair.

"I think you should torture him," she said. "Find out where she is so that we can get the hell out of here before security comes."

For a moment, all Connor felt was hatred at Hanley, and willed to caused him pain, but it abated after a moment.

"No," he said. "I won't torture someone."

Lilah sighed.

"Goody two shoes," she muttered. "Alright Hanley, what are you playing?"

"That goes beyond even your clearance Lilah," said Hanley.

"Nothing goes beyond my clearance," said Lilah then she paused. "No."

"What?" asked Connor.

"The President is the only one who has clearance," said Lilah. "Besides Hanley and his team obviously. What is going on Hanley? Why's he let you capture a girl to get at Connor? Couldn't you have just asked Connor nicely?"

"Oh yeah, because you'd have done the same thing," said Connor sarcastically.

"I always give people the opportunity to come willingly," said Lilah.

"I can't tell you," said Hanley. "All you need to know is that without him..."

He gestured at Connor.

"...We couldn't get any further. The Hunter girl was our best bet."

"Where is she?" asked Connor.

Hanley considered him.

"Will you help us?"

"Why would I help you?" asked Connor, his voice shaking. "You kidnapped Mirany. You hurt her. Why would I help you when I'm right here and could go and find her myself if I had to?"

Hanley scowled.

"Because without your help she'll die anyway," he said.

...

"Mirany," Connor breathed, hurrying over to her and beginning to untie her. "Thank god you're alright."

"That depends on your definition of alright," said Mirany. "Why am I always the one that gets kidnapped?"

"You're kidnappable," said Lilah.

"What's she doing here?" asked Mirany, standing up and glaring at Lilah.

"Don't Mirany. She helped. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her."

Mirany sized Lilah up.

"I gues I owe you a thanks then," she said, holding out her hand grudgingly.

Lilah looked at it.

"You saved my life," she said. "It was me that owed you."

Mriany stared after her as she walked away.

"How did I save her life?" she asked.

"Opened her heart maybe. Must've felt like her life had been saved to her. Didn't it feel the same for you?"

...

"Hey, you're back," said Angel, looking up as Connor and Mirany entered the lobby. "I was starting to get worried."

"Yeah because from the sounds of it, you really cared," said Mirany sarcastically.

"England's rubbed off you," Angel noted. "Accent's back in full throttle. Just when I thought it was gone too."

"Bugger off," said Mirany, sitting down.

Connor pulled Angel to his feet.

"Can I have a word with you, just for a few moments?" he asked.

"Sure," said Angel, following him into his office. "What's up?"

Connor looked out the window at Mirany.

"She looks good now right?" he asked. "Healthy, happy?"

Tears began to well up in the corner of Connor's eyes. Angel hadn't seen him cry since he was very young. Connor turned to Angel.

"They give her six months tops," he said. "She's dying."

"Why did they want you?"

"They think I'm the key," said Connor. "They want me to stop it. They say she has a role to play. She can't die."

He ran a hand through his hair.

"Only I can't do anything without Mirany's resources and there's no way in hell that I'm telling her she's dying!" he said frustratedly, banging his fist against the wall. "I can't call Lilah again. She's going to die and it's going to be my fault."

Angel laid a hand on Connor's shoulder as he shook.

"Connor, you're not in this alone," he said. "We'll all help. And maybe if we find something then you can tell her. Tell her that there's a chance."

Silent tears were trickling down Connor's face.

"Something they've never seen before," said Connor. "At least, not in humans."

"Where have they seen it?" asked Angel.

"Canines," said Connor. "But not the same. Parvovirus."

"Puppy disease? But that's not in humans. Humans can't catch it. And besides, she hasn't been around any dogs lately anyway."

"I know," said Connor. "They haven't got a cure for it with dogs either."

"How'd she get it then?"

"That's exactly the point. They don't know," said Connor. "They know everything about her but they don't know how she could possibly have that disease."

Angel bit his lip.

"We'll figure it out," he said. "We'll figure out why she's got it and how to stop it. I promise."

Connor looked over at Mirany again.

"Why do they think you're the key?"

"I don't know," said Connor. "I'm not important enough for that imformation but Lilah said she'd look into it if she was in the right place at the right time."

"You're trusting Lilah with this?" asked Angel.

"She's helped before," said Connor. "She may still be fairly evil, but she helped today and she's helped us before. Whether we like it or not, without her we wouldn't be here."

"With her we might not have been here anyway," said Angel.

"Dad, I'll make my own choices," said Connor. "We need her."

Angel sighed.

"I really hope you don't regret it," he said.

"Dad are you gonna help or not?" asked Connor.

"Of course I am," said Angel. "I'm not going to let her die any more than you are."

"Good," said Connor. "I'm taking her back to her place. You tell Wes and Cordy and you convince them to help."

"I won't need to convince them."

"But if you do, do anything you need to do," said Connor.

"Connor, I know you're worried about her, but remember yourself," said Angel. "Don't let this get in the way."

...

"Okay, what's going on?" asked Mirany as Connor handed her a drink. "You're being extra nice and so was Angel after you talked to him. Not only that but Lilah was still there when you went to get me. She could have left but she stayed behind. What's wrong?"

Connor famed surprise as best he could.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said. "But if you would prefer I be mean then I'm happy to..."

"No," said Mirany quickly. "I like having a slave."

She grinned at him.

"It makes a change from having to actually get up and get my own drink."

"You've been through enough," said Connor. "Just let me take care of you for a while."

"You're taking care of me through the use of beer," said Mirany, examining the bottle. "Well, thanks, but not tonight."

Connor really was surprised this time as she paced the bottle on the coffee table.

"After drinking tea for the past few months surely you'd like to go back to your twenty beers a day," he said.

"Yeah, eventually," said Mirany. "But I'm not in the mood to wake up with a hangover tomorrow."

"You'll wake up early," he said warningly. "You know how much you hate that."

"If that's the only bad thing that comes of it then so be it," said Mirany.

"Are you feeling okay?" asked Connor.

"Yeah, I'm just not in the mood tonight," she said.

"Right, I get it," said Connor.

"Actually, I'm gonna hit the hay," said Mirany, getting to her feet. "Are you gonna stay or...?"

"Yeah, I'll stay," said Connor. "Make sure no one nabs you again."

Mirany smiled.

"Good," she said.

She opened the door to her room and was halfway inside when she turned back to Connor.

"Just one last thing," she said. "Why does your dad think we slept together?"

Connor groaned.

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**Hope you found this one interesting. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to pull it off but with any luck you didn't hate it. May be slow with the putting up of chapters from now because school's back in session, but I should still manage a chapter a month at least. Probably more, but that's my minimum goal. The quote for this one was a little off I reckon, but it was the best one I could find for this :S Please review and I'll put up another one as soon as I can.**


	14. Seeing Double

**_"Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same." - Oscar Wilde_**

* * *

"Can you get into the research facility in the Smithsonian?" asked Connor, looking over Cordelia's shoulder.

Cordelia snorted.

"You have got to be kidding me," she said. "I can't get into our own computer without having a fit, let alone hacking into the Smithsonian. Mirany's the hacker, and since you haven't told her..."

"Told who what?" asked Mirany.

Cordelia and Connor both jumped.

"One of his...friends," said Cordelia after a slight pause. "She thinks her rat is a...hampster."

"A guinea pig?" asked Mirany. "How can anybody think that?"

"What's a guinea pig?" asked Connor.

"A hampter but from England," said Mirany. "It surprises me to no end how much you don't know."

Cordelia chuckled darkly.

"He's not the only one that doesn't know much," she said and Connor kicked her under the desk.

Mirany raised her eyebrows at Cordelia.

"You can hardly talk," she said. "Do you have _any_ A levels?"

"You lost me again," said Connor.

"Yeah, me too," Cordelia muttered resentfully.

"Basically, did you graduate from high school?" asked Mirany.

Cordelia glared at her but made no comment which Mirany took as a negative answer.

"Mirany, what are you doing here?" asked Angel, walking out of his office and very quickly stuffing a piece of paper he was holding into his pocket. "We didn't make any arrangements to train or anything."

"No," said Mirany. "But, I have someone who really wants to talk to you, can't imagine why. Anyway, he's back at my place. So, do you feel like getting a bit of money in your pocket for a change? You know, rather than your usual 'help people free of charge' thing you've got going? He's willing to pay a fair bit."

Mirany smirked.

"I think it'll be pretty clear why once you talk to him."

"What's so amusing to you about someone in trouble?" asked Angel.

"Oh, and the trouble he's in," said Mirany, now grinning from ear to ear. "So come on. Do you want to meet a paying client or not?"

...

"You're him? You're the one that helps people with their weird 'out of this earth' problems?" asked the man.

Angel nodded.

"I'm Angel," he said.

"My name is Carter Boardwell. I have a problem. A big one."

Behind Carter's back, Mirany shoved a fist in her mouth to stop herself from laughing. Angel ignored her and gestured for him to sit down.

"So tell me, what's your problem Carter?" he asked.

"I have two wives," said Carter.

Angel blinked.

"You're a bigamist?" he asked. "I'm sorry but that's hardly my problem."

"No, but see, I only married the one person," said Carter.

"I'm sorry, I'm confused," said Connor, sitting down. "How can you have two wives but only have married one?"

"The person I married...there's of her."

"She's been duplicated," said Mirany, grinning.

"Please, you have to help me," said Carter. "A few years ago I would have thought that was excellent, but now...she's...they're...I'm being torn apart. I can't take it any longer. Are you married?"

"Um...divorced," said Angel eventually and Mirany stiffled a snort.

"Then you know what it's like," said Carter. "One wife is more than enough. Back when we were crazy kids in love I would ahve welcomed another one of her, but two wives..."

"How did it happen?" asked Connor.

"I have no clue," said Carter. "I went to work a couple of mornings ago, and when I came back...there she was. An identical clone. She even spoke the same. Wore the same clothes and everything. I tried to ask her...them...about it, but it was like trying to talk to two hungry tigers. Neither of them...her...remembered anything or thought that anything was suss. They...she...was acting as though there had always been two of her...them."

"Okay then," said Angel, who could now see why Mirany was struggling to control herself. He could just imagine what this poor man had been going through for the past few days. "Uh, why don't you take me back to your house and...introduce me."

Mirany couldn't help herself and snorted with laughter.

"You want to meet her...them...you know, now I know why you're so confused," she said to Carter. "Angel, are you out of your mind? Two wives. Two wives! It's every man's worst nightmare."

"You're telling me," Carter agreed dully.

"Nightmare or not," said Angel, "I need to see them."

Carter nodded.

"Fine," he said. "Whatever you say. Just don't tell them I went to get you. Tell them you noticed some weird readings or something off some gadget or other coming from the house."

"Sure," said Angel, smirking and getting to his feet. "You two coming?"

"No way," said Mirany.

"I'll leave the introductions to you," said Connor.

"Suit yourselves," said Angel, walking out of the room with Carter following.

"Two wives," said Connor, grinning. "That poor guy. I cna't imagine what he's going through."

"Imagine two of me," said Mirany, getting up. "You want a drink?"

"No," said Connor, staring with horror at the wall. "No, I think I just lost all the will to live."

Mirany smacked him over the head.

"There aren't two of me," she said, scowling at him. "And even if there were it wouldn't be _that_ bad."

Connor stared at her in surprise.

"Are you serious? It'd be like trying to tame two dragons with a wooden chair," he said.

Mirany paused for a moment.

"You present a fair point," she said.

...

"What do you mean?" asked Connor.

"I mean, I did a bit of research at an ordinary library and it said that there's no possibles humans can get any strain of parvo unless it's been injected straight into the bloodstream," said Wesley. "And that's one for the books, zero for the computers."

"I think we're gonna need the computers now though Wes," said Connor. "I have a funny idea who injected her."

Angel groaned as he walked into the lobby.

"Oh hey," said Connor, smirking. "How'd the wives go?"

"You were right. I was mad," said Angel.

"You still are mad," said Connor. "So?"

"I found leftover traces of a spell," said Angel. "Did a bit of questioning and the wives admitted to trying something out. Said she just wanted to be more efficient. Obviously two of her is twice as efficient as one."

"So how do we reverse it?" asked Connor.

"I don't think it's that simple," said Angel. "The spell shouldn't have been that powerful. All it should have done was speed her up a bit. They showed me the spell and everything. I think something wanted this to happen and found the perfect way to do it while she was performing her little spell."

"Who'd want to duplicate someone?" asked Cordelia. "I couldn't imagine anything worse."

"Someone who wanted to get the weak part of the wife seperated from the strong part," said Angel. "They were both snappy and stuff but one was definitely vulnerable. One snap and she'd shut up. The other one didn't seem to have any weaknesses at all. Most confident person I've ever seen. A bit too confident. You kill one half of a person and the other half dies anyway. I think someone wanted her dead, but could only manage it if she was split in half. That way they can kill the vulnerable one and watch the other one die at the same time."

"So there's someone else behind this?" asked Connor.

"I talked to the sons, they weren't particularly keen about the whole 'two mothers' thing but apparently they couldn't care less who wants to kill their mother, as long as they don't have a bed time any more."

"Sounds like motive to me," said Cordelia.

"I think it's pretty slim," said Angel.

"Yeah, which boy wants to live without his mum?" Connor muttered, sitting down in front of the computer.

Angel ignored his very pointed question.

"So now we search," he said.

"Indeed we do," said Connor. "At Mirany's, so that I can search here for other things."

"How's it going?" asked Angel.

"Well, she can't have gotten it without being injected with it," said Wesley. "There are human forms of the virus, but none are deadly some I'm assuming that it's some kind of mix of the two."

"What? Something experimental?" asked Angel.

"Exactly," said Wesley. "But that's as far as I can go I'm afraid."

"Better than nothing," said Angel. "So, Cordy, come with me, Wesley, see if you can help Connor any more. What am I telling her?"

"About what?" asked Connor.

"Why you're not with us," said Angel.

"Oh, uh, tell her I have football training," said Connor.

"You don't play football," said Cordelia.

"Right, um...I'm helping Wesley with stuff."

"She's gonna see straight through that," said Cordelia.

"Better than playing a sport that he doesn't play, come on," said Angel, pulling Cordelia out the door.

"So who do you think do it?" asked Wesley. "Lilah?"

"No," said Connor. "If she wanted Mirany dead she'd give her something that would kill her straight off. Painful or not, she wouldn't draw something out for six months."

"So who is it then?" asked Wesley.

Connor looked up at him.

"I'll let you know," he said.

...

"Yes, you may use my computer, no, I don't mind, please, don't apologise for barging into my house uninvited and using my stuff just because your cheap stuff crashed," said Mirany pointedly.

"Thank you, thank you, sorry," said Angel. "Happy now?"

Mirany rolled her eyes.

"And once more with feeling?"

"No time for feeling," said Cordelia. "We've got work to do."

"Yeah, so do I, but unfortunately you two are forcing me to put it on hold. Where's my boy toy? I can distract myself with him for a while."

"Uh, not here," said Angel. "And I'm telling him what your nickname for him is."

"Why isn't he here? And he knows he's my boy toy," said Mirany.

"Helping Wesley," said Cordelia.

"With what?"

"Uh...Latin translations I think," said Cordelia.

Mirany nodded slowly.

"And just how long were you expecting that one to last?" she asked.

"Hopefully a few more minutes than it did," said Angel, typing on one of Mirany's computers. "I'm looking for some sort of demon or something that can intercept spells while they're working and change them slightly."

"How slightly?" asked Mirany.

"Think wanting to be efficient and ending up with a duplicate," said Cordelia.

"Oh yeah, that's slightly," said Mirany sarcastically. "I don't think I know of any demons that can intercept and change a spell that much. I'd say you're looking for a specific spell."

"You think someone human did this?" asked Angel.

"Not necessarily. Demons can perform spells just as well as humans can...assuming they have mouths. So where is Connor then?"

"Not here, does it matter?" asked Angel, annoyed.

"Whoa, calm down," said Mirany. "Talking to the wives really didn't do you any good, did it?"

"He came back looking like he'd just overcome some sort of fatal disease," said Cordelia. "He looked terrible."

Angel cleared his throat slightly but Cordelia either didn't catch the hint or just ignored it.

"I considered taking him to a hospital. He was moaning and like I said, looked dreadful."

"He's dead already. He'd be dissected by a doctor," said Mirany, then she paused. "Hey Angel, when did you last visit a hospital?"

"Torture later, figuring out what happened to the wife now," said Angel.

"Well, have fun," said Mirany sarcastically. "I'll be doing something more important somewhere else so you guys can see yourselves out when you're ready, right?"

"Thanks for the computer," said Angel tonelessly.

"Just, because I'm curious, what is Connor doing that's more important than me?" asked Mirany.

"Cordelia, explain to her the concept of not right now," said Angel.

"He's just really busy doing something else at the moment," said Cordelia. "He said to tell you that he was sorry he couldn't come but he's neck deep in it at the moment and he thought it was best to just sort it all out."

"Sort what out though?" asked Mirany.

"He wouldn't say," said Cordelia. "It sounded important though. I'm sure he'll tell you later."

"Right," said Mirany. "See you later then."

She left the room and Cordelia sighed.

"Yeah, okay, we stuffed that one up," she said.

"She's suspicious now, good job," said Angel. "And now she's gonna ask him what he was doing the next time she sees him."

"Well what was I supposed to say? 'He's researching about the disease that you've got that's going to kill you in six months if he doesn't do something about it first'?" asked Cordelia.

Outside the room, Mirany slumped against the closed door, not sure she could believe what she was hearing.

"You could have said anything," said Angel.

"If I had said something specific, she would hav asked him later about it and he would have had no clue what she was talking about," said Cordelia. "That's just as suspicious. At least I didn't lie."

"No, but you didn't tell the whole truth either and now she's going find out."

"Maybe it's better off if she knows. Then she can use her own resources which we know outstrip ours by lightyears."

"She's dying," said Angel. "It's not exactly something you want to hear when you're eighteen years old."

"It's not something you ever want to hear," said Cordelia. "But we all know that Mirany's not going to live a full life anyway. She's the Slayer. Something's gonna get her. Surely she's prepared for that. It couldn't be too much of a shock for her if she found out about this. And if she finds out about this now, she has a good chance of stopping it too."

Mirany had heard enough and took off down the hallway. This had not at all been what she had been expecting to hear. Connor going out with someone else was what she thought she was going to discover, and now she wished she had. She was going to die. It just made everything more real. It didn't feel like it had when Lilah had told her she was going to kill her. That was different. There had been a way out. There had been several. But a disease...there was no escaping that.

...

"Explain to me the thought process you went through when you found out that I had a disease," Mirany snarled, slamming the lid of the laptop shut and glaring at Connor.

Connor mouthed silently at her for a moment before he swallowed and started again.

"How did you find out?" he asked.

"Angel and Cordelia should really know better than to talk to each other about confidential stuff while I'm right outside the room," said Mirany. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Mirany, I promise you I was going to," said Connor, getting to his feet. "I just didn't...I didn't want you to get scared."

"Scared? I'm not scared Connor. I'm fucking FURIOUS!" Mirany shouted at him and Connor flinched, taking a step away from her. He had never heard her swear so openly. "HOW DARE YOU! HOW COULD YOU KEEP SOMETHING LIKE THIS AWAY FROM ME? HOW LONG WERE YOU GOING TO KEEP IT FROM ME? HOW LONG?"

"I was...hoping I'd never have to tell you," said Connor.

"What? You just thought you could inject the cure into me in my sleep?" Mirany snarled.

Connor didn't say anything and Mirany turned away from him in disgust.

"I was trying to help," said Connor. "I thought I was doing the right thing."

"I could be cured already," said Mirany, turning to him. "With all my contacts and my access to practically everything, I could have been cured almost the moment you found out if you had just told me. Didn't you even stop to consider that?"

"Yes," said Connor. "God Mirany, I stopped to consider every possible thing. I decided that finding out you had a deadly disease that you shouldn't even be able to have would have been too traumatic for you."

Mirany paused.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "How can I have a disease that I shouldn't have?"

Connor blinked.

"You don't know what you have?" he asked.

"All I know is that I have a disease," said Mirany.

Connor sighed.

"You've got Parvovirus," he said.

"But...only dogs can get that," said Mirany. "Canines."

"I know," said Connor.

"And there's no cure for that," Mirany continued. "So not only have I contracted a disease I shouldn't be able to, but there's no cure for it?"

"That's what I've been trying to find," said Connor. "So far the cure part has lead me to a dead end, but the contracting part...that's where it's starting to get interesting."

"You know," said Mirany knowingly. "How did I get it?"

"Are you still angry at me?" asked Connor.

"I will be if you don't tell me how I got it!" Mirany snapped.

"You were injected with it," said Connor quickly, opening his laptop again. "And I think by the people that kidnapped you. Do you remember them doing anything like that?"

"No, but I was out cold pretty much until they called you," said Mirany. "I had only just woken up."

"Then they probably got you while you were asleep," said Connor. "Mirany, I hate to say this because you'll probably rip my head off, but you really need to take it easy until we can stop it."

"I'm not taking anything easy," said Mirany at once. "I'm the Slayer. I have a better immune system than any human in the world. I can get over it."

"Not if it gets you first," said Connor pointedly. "Mirany, I'm serious."

"So am I," said Mirany. "I'm not taking it easy. I'm not just going to sit down and rest for the next six months. That's probably exactly what they want. In fact, I'm going to push myself harder."

Mirany turned to leave but Connor grabbed her arm and spun her back around.

"Mirany, I know you're angry at me and I understand why, but just think about this," he said. "If they wanted you to take it easy they would have told _you_ that you were dying, not me. What if they want you to continue your normal life, thinking that you're alright and pushing yourself?"

"Then they're getting their wish," said Mirany dangerously, glaring up at him.

"Mirany, please," Connor begged. "Please. Don't do anything stupid. I'm worried sick about you as it is. Please don't make this about paying me back for not telling you. Don't out your life on the line for a little bit of revenge."

Mirany pried Connor's fingers from her arm and left the hotel without another word. Connor sighed as he flopped back into his chair, staring after her.

"She sounded angry," said Wesley.

"Oh nah," said Connor sarcastically.

"But she also sounded scared," said Wesley.

Connor snorted.

"That was not Mirany in scared mode," he said. "That was her in destroy-the-world mode."

"What's the difference?" asked Wesley.

...

"Mirany, are you alright?" asked Dan, looking worriedly at the teenager, who wasn't sporting her usual beer but instead running her finger around the rim of a glass of coke. An unusual drink for any of his customers, but when Mirany walked in three hours before opening, he almost always expected her to order some serious liquor. He didn't even know she liked coke. "You don't seem yourself."

"What would you do if somebody told you that without a doubt you were going to die?" asked Mirany. "Not as in the way Lilah told me she was going to kill me. More as in a doctor telling you there was nothing more they could do but make you comfortable."

Dan raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'd probably do whatever I could to make sure my life hadn't been a complete waste," he said. "You know, go on that overseas trip I always dreamed of or whatever."

"And what would you do if you were me?" asked Mirany.

"Use every resource I had to stop it, or at least, prolong it without suffering," said Dan.

"Yeah, well," Mirany sighed.

"Why?" asked Dan. "Have you got terminal cancer or something?"

Mirany laughed bitterly.

"I wish," she muttered. "There's always the chance that cancer can be removed, even if it is dangerous."

"And you've got something that can't?" asked Dan.

"Hypothetically," said Mirany, leaning over the bar at him, "say I had a disease that humans couldn't get, what would be a cause?"

"Injection?" Dan guessed.

"Something else," said Mirany.

"Uh...spell," said Dan. "Diseased demon claws ripping through you, something we both know happens often. Um...mutation."

"Eleborate," said Mirany, looking at him curiously.

"In your DNA, your blood, whatever," said Dan. "Say, if you had something only a certain type of demon could get, maybe a couple of your cells have mutated to resemble that demon's genetic code."

"Hmm."

Mirany downed the coke and pulled a face.

"Vodka to wash it down?" asked Dan, smirking.

"No," said Mirany, surprising him again. "Thanks for the talk."

"Still hypothetically," said Dan, stopping her before she left, "say you had this disease, how long would you have?"

"Probably about six months," said Mirany.

"Right," said Dan. "Well, good luck with hypothetic thing."

...

"Found it!" said Angel triumphantly, striding into the lobby with Cordelia in tow. "I know how to reverse it!"

"Do you know who did it?" asked Wesley.

"He has a hunch," said Cordelia.

"The husband," said Angel.

"The man who came to us in the first place?" asked Wesley. "Seems a little stupid."

"He didn't come to us," said Angel. "He came to Mirany, who came to us. I reckon he heard about Mirany's reputation to attack first, ask questions later and thought that she'd kill one part or the other of his wife if she thought that it was a demon in disguise. Boom, no more wife. He's scott free, Mirany's filled with guilt again. And I reckon if we looked a little closer we'd probably find that it was Lilah who gave him the spell and sent him to Mirany in the first place."

"Good theory," said Connor. "Only it lacks one thing. Evidence, perhaps."

"Well," said Cordelia, "that's where my superior computer skills come in."

"What computer skills?" Wesley muttered, too low for her to hear and Connor chuckled.

"Turns out, Mr I-Have-Two-Wives actually does have two wives," said Cordelia. "One's forty-two, has had two kids and is a pain in the ass. The other is twenty-one, works as a supermodel and thinks he's the best man in all the world."

"Ha, not hard to figure out which one he prefers," said Connor.

"Exactly," said Angel. "But he can't get a divorce with his old wife because she has a fortune and he stands to inherit it."

"So he gets someone else to kill the wife, inherits her fortune along with life insurance, leaves the kids with grandma and skips town with the supermodel," said Cordelia.

"We got him," said Wesley.

"Well, what are waiting for?" asked Connor. "Let's go put this right."

...

"Hi. Is Mirany here?" asked Connor as Sophia opened the door.

"Um...I think she's in the lab with Jason," said Sophia, standing aside to let him in.

"The lab?" asked Connor. "Jason?"

"Hasn't she ever showed it to you? Her mother was right into experiments and things so they had a lab built," said Sophia. "Jason is the resident scientist."

"How come I've never heard of it, or Jason?" asked Connor.

"There's no need to get jealous," said Sophia, smiling kindly at him as she led him along corridors. "Jason's thirty-seven. He's no threat to you. She's probably never shown you the lab because she hardly ever goes down there except to give Jason something new to work on. I don't know exactly why she's there at the moment though. She gave Jason something to work on last week. He hasn't had any successful results from that yet, so I have no idea why she'd be down here now."

Sophia stopped outside a door and keyed in a combination into an electronic lock.

"What's with the code?" asked Connor.

"Some of the things Jason works on can get pretty nasty," said Sophia. "Not something you want to fall into the wrong hands. The code changes every hour. Only a few of us get it paged to us. It's completely random. You'll need to put these on."

She handed Connor a coat and safety glasses.

"Thanks," said Connor as she typed the passcode in again and the door opposite them opened, revealing a large white laboratory full of desks with all sorts of scientific equipment on them.

"Oh, and whatever you do, don't let him test anything on you," said Sophia knowingly.

Connor nodded and walked into the laboratory. It really was about as high-tech as a lab could possibly be and in the corner Mirany was sitting on a chair, tapping her foot impatiently as a man pulled a syringe from a drawer.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked her. "It seems fairly unlikely."

"Just do it," said Mirany, rolling up her sleeve.

The man, who Connor assumed was Jason, sighed and stuck the syringe into Mirany's arm, drawing blood from her vein.

"What are you doing?" asked Connor as he pulled the syringe out of her and the hole sealed up at once.

Mirany and Jason both started, Jason only just managing not to drop the syringe, and they turned.

"Who are you?" asked Jason.

"Could ask you the same thing," said Connor pointedly.

"Jason, Connor, Connor, Jason," said Mirany, rolling her eyes. "I'm getting my DNA tested if that's alright with you?"

Connor sighed. She was still angry with him.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I want to make sure that I actually am related to Lilah," said Mirany curtly.

"Wouldn't you need Lilah's DNA as well then?" asked Connor.

"Who brought you down here?" asked Mirany.

"Sophia," said Connor.

"Oh, how kind of her to bring me a test subject," said Jason, riffling through drawers and around desks.

"I'm not here to be your lab rat," said Connor firmly.

"Then why are you here?" asked Mirany. "Angel left hours ago."

"I know, I helped him join the two wife back together again. You know, he actually does have two wives."

"I don't care," said Mirany. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to apologise," said Connor.

Mirany glared at him then turned back to Jason, who gave her an expectant look, glancing at Connor. Mirany scowled at Jason as well then turned back to Connor.

"Well, if you're here, you may as well be of some use," she said resignedly. "We're testing my DNA and Jason's extracting the virus so that he can mess around with cures and stuff."

"So, why are you really testing your DNA?" asked Connor.

"Mutations," said Jason. "She thinks she's part dog."

"The term is canine," said Mirany sourly. "I might be part wolf."

"I'm confused," said Connor.

"She thinks some part of her DNA strand his mutated to resemble that of a _canine's_ and that's how she got Parvo," said Jason. "I think she's barking mad. Ha, get it? Barking?"

"Ignore him," said Mirany, rolling her eyes. "The older he gets the funnier he thinks he is."

Connor smirked.

"Look, why don't you two go away for a bit?" Jason suggested. "I have work to do and it's going to take me a little while to separate the DNA before we can search for mutations."

"Alright," said Mirany. "Call me."

"Do I ever not?" asked Jason pointedly and Mirany pulled Connor out of the lab.

"Mirany, I really am sorry," said Connor turning to her as she stripped off her lab coat.

"Yeah, I know," she said, pulling his coat off him and taking the glasses from his head. "I'm sorry I got so mad."

"You don't think you were injected?" asked Connor.

"I think the possibility of injecting a large enough dose of Parvo into me for it to actually infect me is very, very small," said Mirany. "If they had so much of the disease they could have used it to find a cure ages ago. And if it's a mix of human and non-human Parvo, the chances that they had enough of it are pretty much zero. I seriously doubt that someone cast a spell on me. I would ahve known about that, and as far as infected demon claws go, I've actually been pretty good with those of late. All that was left was mutation."

"Smart," said Connor. 'I wouldn't have thought of those other options."

"That's because you're not me," said Mirany, smirking at him. "Now, come on you. You ahve to make up for lying to me."


	15. Breakdown

Mirany sat turning a knife slowly in her fingers, staring at the wall unseeingly.

"I know this isn't what you want to hear," said Jason.

"There's no mistaking it?" she asked hopefully, but she already knew the answer.

"No," Jason sighed. "I ran it three times. The chances of it still being a mistake are...there isn't any chance of it."

"Right," Mirany muttered dejectedly.

"But uh...I have worse news," said Jason, who was beginning to look unsure as to where he could run if Mirany didn't like what he was about to say.

"What can possibly be worse than finding out that you're officially part dog?" asked Mirany.

"Wolf actually. Anyway, I found a cure," said Jason, "or at least, I thought I had. Then I watched in shock as the virus thrived off it. Trying to stop it only increases the rate that it grows. If I tried to give you anything, the disease would move quicker. You'd be killed quicker."

"So, you're telling me that...there's no cure?" asked Mirany.

Jason nodded.

"Anything that could attack the disease, gets attacked first," he said.

"So basically you've just confirmed that I'm going to die," said Mirany.

Jason didn't say anything as Mirany ran her hands frustratedly through her hair.

"I can feel it," she said shakily, curling into a ball on her chair. "I can feel it taking me over. I'm getting weaker, I can't eat anymore because if I do I just throw it right back up and I have a fever way above anything a normal human should be able to survive."

"I'm sorry," said Jason, laying a hand on her shoulder. "But I've tried everything I can think of. There's nothing I can do."

"Right," Mirany muttered. "Well, I suppose I better go and be useful while I still can."

"Mirany, don't do anything stupid," said Jason. "Please. Keep yourself alive until..."

Jason's voice trailed away.

"Until I die?" Mirany finished. "I'll do my best."

...

Mirany slammed her fist repeatedly against the vampire's skull and torso. It was on the ground and she should have staked it ages ago, but she was still attacking, still so full of anger that when she finally did stake it, she was hardly satisfied. She looked around wildly, looking for any more, but the graveyard was still and deserted.

"Come on," she muttered. "COME ON! VAMPIRES, WHERE ARE YOU? COME ON, I'M RIGHT HERE! COME AND GET ME!"

She threw her stake as far away from her as possible.

"I'M UNARMED. COME ON! I'M AN EASY MEAL, COME AND KILL ME ALREADY! Come...come on. Please just...come."

She dropped to her hands and knees and began to sob. She knealt there, sobbing, until rough hands dragged her to her feet, muttering disapproving words. She didn't care, didn't even know if she recognised the voice as she was half pulled, half dragged from the graveyard and as she was pushed into a car, she collapsed on the backseats and closed her eyes to the world.

...

"Uh guys...I think you should take a look at this," said Cordelia to Angel, Wesley and Connor, turning up the volume on the television as they all crowded around her.

_"Footage was taken last night in St Steven's graveyard of a teenage girl yelling for vampires,"_said the news reporter and a small box appeared beside his head, showing Mirany yelling her lungs out at the empty graveyard.

"What on earth...?" started Wesley.

"That can't be Mirany," said Connor. "She wouldn't just go completely..."

"Mental? I reckon it's possible," said Cordelia.

"Maybe it's something to do with the disease," Angel guessed. "Delusions or something."

_"Local authorities are trying to track the girl down and are looking for anyone with information on her whereabouts. If you have seen her, call the police immediately and do your best not to approach her."_

"I'm going over there," said Angel.

"It's the middle of the day," said Wesley. "Cordelia and I will go to the graveyard, you and Connor go to Mirany's. Find out what's going on."

...

Wesley and Cordelia pulled up just outside of the yellow tape, trying their best to look and act like the characters they were about to be.

"What's going on?" asked Wesley to a nearby police officer.

"Stay back sir, this is a crime scene," said the officer.

"A crime scene?" asked Cordelia worriedly. "Oh no, what did she do? I told her not to go out at night but she _never_ listens."

"You two are..."

"Her parents, yes," said Wesley.

"What is her name?" asked the officer.

Cordelia opened her mouth to tell him but Wesley nudged her slightly.

"Mir...anda," said Cordelia, changing course. "Miranda Smith."

"We saw it on the news. We don't know how this could have happened. She's never lost her head like that before," said Wesley.

"Why is it a crime scene?" asked Cordelia. "Was someone hurt?"

"Oh, no ma'am," said the officer assuredly. "Investigators are just looking for clues that might help us find her. Do you know where she might have gone?"

"No," said Wesley. "We have no clue, that's why we came. We're so worried about her. She could be anywhere."

"She hardly talks to us anymore," said Cordelia sadly. "Have you found anything yet?"

"We saw her toss away what appeared to be a stake on the video," said the officer. "With any luck, we'll find it."

"Doubtful," Wesley muttered, too low for the officer to hear. "It'll be on the other side of LA probably."

"Who shot the video?" asked Cordelia.

"That man over there," said the officer, pointing through the gates at a man that was talking to a couple of officers.

"May we please talk to him?" asked Wesley. "Please? We need to know what happened to her after the tape was shot."

The officer didn't look particularly pleased, but he let them under the tape and led them over to the man, who had moved away from the other officers now.

"Mr Kadense," he said. "These are Mr and Mrs Smith. They're the girl's parents. They would just like a quick word."

"Of course," said the man and the officer left.

"Could you please...tell us what happened to our daughter after she...broke down?" said Cordelia.

"You're not her parents any moer than I'm an innocent bystander," said the man and Wesley and Cordelia both stared at him.

"Who are you?" asked Wesley.

"John Kadense," said the man. "I work for people far above your heads and we all know that Mirany's parents died years ago. You're part of Angel Investigations are you not?"

The two of them gaped at him. Wesley recoverd first.

"What were you doing then?" he asked.

"Checking up on dear old Mirany Hunter," said Kadense. "I have to say she's progressing fast. She should be given a medal."

"Why did you hand the video over to the police?" asked Cordelia.

"I didn't," said Kadense. "The police are running this investigation because I want them to. They're working for me."

"You don't know where she is," said Wesley.

"Some woman came up, grabbed her and dragged her out of here," said Kadense. "I'm telling you, she was a mess. A big mess. I don't think she even knew where she was going or who was taking her there."

"Why do you want to find her?" asked Cordelia.

Kadense smirked.

"You're not cleared for that," he said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and be a witness. I'll let you hang around if you want. It's always amusing to watch amatuers at work."

He walked away and Cordelia and Wesley glared after him.

"That guy is _not_ good news," said Cordelia.

"I got that impression too," said Wesley. "We better warn Angel. This guy knew who Mirany was. He wants her. Why didn't he just go and grab her himself. He just said that she was completely out of her senses. She would have gotten in the car with the devil if he'd been in there. Why did he grab her?"

"Maybe he didn't want to deal with a blithering wreck of a Slayer," said Cordelia. "Or maybe she thought she would attack anyone who came near her instead of go willingly."

"And who was the woman?" asked Wesley.

"Well, let's hang around, see if they find anything," said Cordelia.

...

"Mirany here?" Connor asked Sophia.

"No sir," she said. "I haven't heard anything from her. I saw her on the news though. I'm worried."

"We all are," said Angel grimly, slipping inside. "Who was the last person here that saw her?"

"Jason," said Sophia.

"Jason?" asked Angel.

"Scientist," said Connor. "Where is he?"

"In the lab," said Sophia.

"You take us down?" asked Angel.

Sophia led them quickly through the corridors, sensing the urgency, and didn't bother to give them any safety equipment before letting them inside. Jason looked up as they steped in.

"Oh, it's you," he muttered, looking down at his work again. "I was hoping...you saw the news right?"

"Yeah," said Connor. "Do you know where she is?"

"Haven't seen her since yesterday," said Jason. "I got results."

"I guessing from the look on your face that they're not good ones," said Angel.

"Wolf-like mutations," said Jason. "And no possible cure."

"You tried everything?" asked Connor.

"Yeah," said Jason. "I wasn't going to tell her that she had no chance of survival without being a hundred and ten percent positive."

"What did she do?" asked Angel as Connor flopped into a chair.

"She got quite scared for a little while. She's displaying all the symptoms and everything. Then she was up and raring to go fight the good fight."

"And she went to the graveyard," said Angel.

"Obviously," said Jason.

"There's no possible way that you made a mistake?" asked Connor. "Maybe there's something you haven't thought of..."

"Listen kid," said Jason. "I tried everything I could think of, then I got on the computer and tried everthing it could think of. I triple checked everything. I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do to help her."

"Connor, we've got more pressing matters to deal with right now," said Angel. "She might be dead already for all we know. There's still time to stop the disease. Right now we have to find her before the police do."

Jason snorted softly.

"What?" asked Connor.

"It's not the police that want to find her," he said. "There's someone behind this. You can tell. There wouldn't be whole news announcements and stuff about it. There might be a small article in the paper or something, but for something like this...it's not front page news yet all the news channels are reporting it. Someone very high up wants her found and wants her found now."

Angel's phone rang at that point and he excused himself.

"What do you mean? Why would someone want her like that? Can't they just call her?"

"Maybe she doesn't like 'em very much," said Jason. "They were very lucky she lost it the way she did otherwise their job would been much harder. Arresting someone for nothing is not easy to do."

"Well surely someone that high up would know what Mirany's done," said Connor.

"Without proof? Still no way to justify it," said Jason. "Someone wants her either for something or because she's a threat."

"That was Wesley," said Angel, returning to them. "You're right. Some guy called John Kadense wants Mirany. They don't know why, but they do know that he's not going to impede us, which means that he thinks we won't be able to do it and that we won't get in his way."

"Well, prove him wrong," said Jason.

"Exactly what I was thinking," said Angel.

...

Mirany groaned as she opened her eyes. Her head was pounding and the sunlight streaming through the windows didn't help matters. She looked around blearily, trying to figure out where she was.

"Finally awake I see," said a very familiar voice nearby. "Here, take this."

A blurry figure propped Mirany up and poured a glass of something down her throat. Mirany chocked and spluttered as the slightly burning liquid passed through her mouth. Her vision immediately become clearer and the pain in her head lessened slightly.

"Lilah?"

"Trust me, I'm just as surprised as you are," said Lilah. "But I saw your fabulous break down in the graveyard and I couldn't help myself. I thought at first that I could grab you and use you, but I got you back here and I couldn't manage it."

"So that whole 'opening your heart' thing actually did work?" asked Mirany.

"To a point," said Lilah, scowling at her.

"What happened?" asked Mirany.

"You lost the plot," said Lilah impressively. "Disease probably got to your head."

"How do you know about that?" asked Mirany.

"Oh please Mirany. I still have my eye on you. I still know your every move," said Lilah. "Anyway, you got yourself on the news and everything, thanks to that idiot John Kadense."

Lilah gestured at the television and Mirany saw a man speaking with a reporter.

"What was he doing at a graveyard?" asked Mirany.

"Following you," said Lilah. "He's been watching you for a while now. I have no clue why but he wants you and let me tell you now, if it wasn't for him being so high up the food chain, this would not be big news."

"So how do I show my face in public again without being arrested?" asked Mirany.

"And here's the catch," Lilah sighed.

"Oh please don't say what I think you're about to say," said Mirany, closing her eyes and crossing her fingers.

"Sorry," said Lilah. "But until Angel and Co. sort this out, you have to stay here."

"Why?" Mirany groaned. "Why here?"

"Because he won't suspect it and it's completely off the radar anyway," said Lilah. "Don't think I'm happy with this arrangement either. I don't know how long this is going to take before everything settles down and until then not only do I have a roommate, but I have _you_ as that roommate. Things couldn't get much worse."

"Why don't you help then?" asked Mirany.

"I'll help if they ask for it," said Lilah. "Which they might, or they might be able to do it themselves. Until then...welcome home."

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**Hi. I know this is a short one, but I wanted to leave it here because I like this ending and I can't really expand in the middle. I know I didn't put a quote in this time either, but I couldn't find one that suited this. I'll have one of those next time, as well as a longer chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one and I'll have another one up soon :)**


	16. Laying Low

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**This chapter is set pretty much straight after the ending of the last one. It's the next day or something. I hope you enjoy and don't forget to review :)**

* * *

**_"Am I not destroying my enemies by making friends of them?" - Abraham Lincoln_**

* * *

"Anything?" asked Connor.

Cordelia shook her head.

"There's no trace of her," said Wesley.

"Dan doesn't know where she is either," said Angel.

Connor sighed.

"We can't give up," he said. "That Kadense guy will find her otherwise and I'm sure as hell not going to let that happen."

"What else can we do?" asked Wesley. "We've tried everywhere."

"No we haven't," said Angel, noticing Connor's expression. "Connor, are you sure?"

"She's helped before," he said. "She might know somewhere else we could try at the very least."

"Who?" asked Cordelia.

"Lilah," said Angel.

"You think she's got Mirany?" asked Cordelia. "Seems a little unlikely. Unless she's tortuing her, which would make sense."

"Connor's got a point though," said Wesley. "Lilah is the only other person who knows that Mirany's sick and it was a woman who took her from the graveyard. It would make sense."

"And even if she doesn't, she's got the resources to help us," said Connor. "I don't want to risk using Mirany's. Kadense probably has those bugged or whatever. And he wouldn't guess to look for Mriany with her evil sister who hates her guts."

"Call her," said Angel. "Either way, we'll need her."

...

"Lilah?"

_"Connor. Let me guess, you're looking for Mirany?"_

"I guess the whole world probably knows about it by now," said Connor.

_"Well, do you mind if I call you back? I'll only be a few seconds."_

"Sure," said Connor and Lilah hung up.

A moment later Connor's phone was ringing.

"Lilah?"

"It's a secure line now," said Lilah. "Just in case Kadense is bugging your phone."

"You know about it all then?" asked Connor.

"Oh yes," said Lilah. "Yes, I know what's going on behind the scenes."

"Do you know where Mirany is?" asked Connor.

"Yes I do," said Lilah. "But, I think it's best not to tell you. I will tell you she's safe, but in case of a really good bug, we'll leave it at that."

"You're sure she's safe?" asked Connor.

"As safe as she can be with all of LA on red alert," said Lilah.

Connor sighed with relief.

"Now, seeing as I've got you on the phone," said Lilah. "I have a favour to call in."

"Lilah, I have more important things to do right now," said Connor.

"Oh, don't worry, it's related," said Lilah. "So what I need is Jason's test manuscripts and results, and I need you to remove Kadense from this equation. He is not on the good side and we don't need him poking any further into Mirany's life. Get him to change his mind, take himself off Mirany's case. Even if it's only for a few weeks, get him away."

"Why don't you want him on Mirany's case?" asked Connor. "I would have thought you'd be happy to see him lock Mirany up."

"If anyone's going to lock Mirany up it'll be me," said Lilah. "And he doesn't want to lock Mirany up in the traditional sense."

"You know what he wants?"

"I have my theories," said Lilah. "Get the test manuscripts up to my office sometime today. I'll be here. Bring them in person. Don't email them or fax them or anything. Get them printed straight from Jason's computer to _his_printer or the closest printer there, then bring them over to me. And from now on, minimise your use of anything wireless or traceable. If you want to talk to me about Mirany either come to me or text something random to me. Anything, just something that won't catch Kadense's eye if he's watching. I'll call you. Understand?"

"Yes," said Connor.

"Don't worry too much about Mirany," said Lilah. "What's important now is to stop the rest of LA worrying about Mirany."

...

"You know, if I'd known how much hard work gets put in to looking after you I wouldn't have taken you from the graveyard," Lilah muttered.

"It's not my fault I'm dying," Mirany groaned. "Oh, you may wanna make sure that you're not part wolf."

She wretched again and Lilah wrinkled her nose.

"I saw Jason's results. Very precise by the way. Didn't miss a thing. I guess that's not good news to you," she said, handing Mirany a face cloth. "But I can assure you I'm not part anything."

"Sure you're not part devil?" asked Mirany.

"I'm all devil," said Lilah.

Mirany made a cross sign with her fingers and Lilah rolled her eyes.

"How was Connor?" asked Mirany, washing her face.

"Worried," said Lilah. "For some strange reason you actually mean a lot to him."

"Does he know I'm here?" asked Mirany.

"No," said Lilah. "I thought it best not to raise Kadense's awareness any higher than it already is by having him in and out of here all the time."

"Right," Mirany muttered.

"Well, I have someone to meet," said Lilah. "So remember, anywhere you can access in Wolfram and Hart..."

"I can go, but I can't leave the building," said Mirany. "I know. It's not like I'm gonna go far anyway. How am I supposed to eat if I just bring it up every time?"

"Make yourself really, really hungry?" Lilah guessed. "You could just go without food."

"What, and miss seeing your absolutely disgusted face?" asked Mirany.

"Touche," said Lilah coolly, leaving the apartment. "Key's on the bench. If you're going to leave, do me a favour and lock the door."

Mirany waved her understanding, trying to keep down what little breakfast she still had left.

...

"I can't believe you told Lilah that you owed her one," said Angel. "She could have made you kill someone."

"But she didn't," said Connor. "So what's the problem?"

"The problem is...never mind," Angel sighed. "So, getting rid of Kadense. We could kill him. It's not as though he doesn't deserve it."

"Or we could just convince him that he's got something better to do," said Connor.

"Yeah, yeah," Angel muttered. "S'pose you're right."

"I'm always right," said Connor carelessly, scrolling down the computer screen. "Says here that Kadense is working for the FBI, but that's all I can get before all the files and stuff get restricted."

"Hack 'em," said Angel.

"You say that as though it's an easy thing to do on an ancient computer," said Connor.

"Mirany could do it," said Angel.

"Well Mirany's not here to do it, is she?" Connor snapped. "I need Mirany's computers but Lilah said not to use them. I shouldn't even be using this one. Should go to an internet cafe or something."

"Why don't we just go to the FBI?" suggested Cordelia. "This dude's obviously bad news. They love it when they get one of their own. They get publicity and all sorts of stuff."

"But it's bad publicity," said Connor.

"There's no such thing as bad publicity," said Angel. "But this might actually be for a case, and then they'd catch on that we were onto them."

"Doesn't he already know we're onto him?" asked Cordelia.

"There's got to be a way we can get more information on him," said Connor, turning off the computer and running his hands through his hair.

"You could always ask him," said Cordelia.

Angel and Connor looked at her exasperatedly.

"It's not as bad an idea as you two think it is," said Wesley. "He said he wouldn't stop us from doing anything, so why wouldn't he give us some background information on himself?"

"He said he wouldn't stop our investigation into where Mirany was," said Connor. "He didn't say anything about our investigation into him."

"So make it sound as though you want to find out more about the competition," said Cordelia. "You know, getitng to know your enemy and all that stuff. I mean, after all, he knows about us, so why can't we know about him? Ask him whether it's for a case or not. That's about the investigation after all."

Connor looked up at Angel.

"As long as I don't have to pretend to be Mirany's third cousin or something, I say it's worth a try," he said. "The worst he can do is say no."

...

"Mirany, what are you doing here?" asked Lindsay, jumping to his feet when he saw Mirany leaning against the door frame.

"What were you chatting to Lilah about?" asked Mirany, her tongue poking between her teeth.

"See, I know you're making stuff up because I haven't spoken to Lily today," said Lindsay.

"Lily huh?" asked Mirany, raising her eyebrows at him. "Did I hear that right? You did just call her Lily, didn't you?"

"Aren't you supposed to be dying?" asked Lindsay.

"Five months," said Mirany, sitting down in front and resting her feet on his desk, ignoring his scowl. "And in that time I plan to wreak as much havoc as possible within this building."

"You're not staying with Lilah hat whole time are you?" asked Lindsay in trepidation.

"Hopefully not," said Mirany. "But I'm prepared for the worst if it happens. I have a plan of action for this place, starting with you. So...what's happening?"

"Get out," said Lindsay, sitting down again.

"Oh come on Lindsay," said Mirany. "You can tell me how you're feeling at the very least, can't you? What can I make out of a 'good' or whatever you tell me?"

"I'm busy, tired, overworked, and have no time to talk to you," said Lindsay pointedly.

"Busy, tired, overworked and short on time," Mirany said, counting them off on her fingers. "Okay, well...feel better."

"Goodbye Mirany," said Linday, pointing at the door.

...

"Did you know that you make Lindsay feel tired and overworked?" asked Mirany, walking into Lilah's office.

"Don't twist the words you rpobably forced from his mouth," said Lilah, not looking up.

"Did you tell him to call you Lily or did it just happen naturally?" asked Mirany.

"Mirany, you are here on invitation and I can get you to leave at any time," said Lilah pointedly. "And while you think you can make trouble while you are here, you can't."

"Spoil my fun why don't you?" asked Mirany resentfully, flopping into a chair. "You know, I only have five months left, the least you could do is let me have fun during that time."

"I've already got my people working on extending that period at the veyr least, if not eradicating the problem," said Lilah.

"Jason's already done all the tests he could," said Mirany. "Nothing can stop it."

"Nothing based purely on science can stop it," Lilah corrected. "But he did nothing which involved a little magic."

"Wow, you actually care," said Mirany.

Lilah considered her.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're family," she said. "The last of my family. I figure I better help out where I can."

"That time in the government place..." started Mirany.

"Connor needed my help," said Lilah. "So I gave it to him."

Mirany stared at her sister in surprise.

"Lilah I...I wasn't expecting that," she said.

"Well, don't get too used to it," said Lilah, returning to her work. "Just because I help sometimes doesn't mean I will all the time. I'm still evil."

...

"Kadense!" Connor called to the man, who paused as he was about to get into the car. "Hold up!"

"Ah, the rookie squad has retrned," said Kadense. "Need my help already?"

"Oh no, we think we know where Mirany is," said Connor. "We just wanted to know a bit more about the competition."

"You think is is a game?" asked Kadense.

"Absolutely not," said Connor seriously. "But all the same, I'd like to know a little about the person I'm working against."

"What exactly do you want to know?" asked Kadense.

"Well, I know you work for the FBI, I was wondering if you're working on one of their cases or is it someone elses?" asked Connor.

"The FBI and I are not on speaking terms at the moment if that answers your question," said Kadense.

"Yes," said Connor. "Also, maybe a little background information? The accent says Texan..."

"That's right," said Kadense. "I come from Texas, I've been crime fighting before you were even twinkle in your mother's eye, and I'm currently not working anything else so I do have all my time to spend looking for the girl. Now, if you hold back on me you'll be impeding in a federal investigation, where do you think she is?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Connor. "I thought you said that you weren't working for the FBI on this case. Sorry but unless you show me credentials that say who you're working for, I can't help you. Also, don't you need a warrant to bug people's stuff?"

Connor tossed the small bug that he had found in his phone to Kadense and walked away. Kadense smirked at his back.

"Game on," he said.

"You think this is a game?" asked Connor over his shoulder.

...

"What are you doing?" asked Lilah, walking into her office and catching Mirany on the computer.

"Hacking illegally into your files so that I can see just how much you know about me and my people," said Mirany carelessly. "You really should get a better password."

"When I put it on there I didn't expect you to log into it," said Lilah, shutting the laptop and glaring at Mirany.

"Lilah, when you leave your ID badge sitting on the desk and your password hint is 'ID number' it doesn't take a genius to work it out," said Mirany pointedly. "At least lose the hint."

"What did you see?" asked Lilah.

"Besides a very flattering picture of Lindsay, not much," said Mirany.

"I don't have any pictures of Lindsay on my computer," said Lilah.

"Shoot and miss," Mirany muttered. "Gotta work on the bluffing thing. But honestly, I didn't get any further in my file then what my powers are and everyone I know knows those so it was kinda pointless. But can I just say, which person doesn't have revealing pictures of their boyfriend in case they ever need to blackmail them? Especially you. You're evil."

"I can hang his job over his head instead," said Lilah.

"Ah, of course," said Mirany.

"And how many revealing photos of Connor do you have?" asked Lilah.

"Oh wouldn't you just love to know?" said Mirany. "But I'm not going to tell you."

"Why not? I'm your sister, you should be able to tell me everything," said Lilah.

"Yeah, I used to, look how that turned out," said Mirany pointedly.

"You know I'll find out anyway," said Lilah.

"I dare you to try," said Mirany. "Now, to more important matters. Why is my blood still on the carpet?"

"Fond memories?" Lilah suggested, tipping Mirany out of her chair.

"Yeah, I believe that one," said Mirany. "So how are your people doing on this disease of mine?"

"About as well as your person was doing," said Lilah.

"Well that's a comfort," said Mirany sarcastically. "You have the best people in the world here."

"You can't rush science," said Lilah.

"I've heard that line before," said Mirany, scowling.

Lilah's phone beeped and Mirany snatched it up before Lilah got to it.

"'Isn't the weather nice today?'" she read, staring at out the window at the overcast sky. "Who's this wanker then?"

"Your boyfriend," said Lilah, taking the phone from her.

"Can I speak to him?" asked Mirany. "Please?"

"No," said Lilah. "Laying low, remember?"

Mirany sunk into her chair dejectedly as Lilah dialed Connor's number.

_"You got my message,"_ said Connor.

"Isn't the weather nice? I would have known it was you if you had said that the weather sucked."

_"Maybe I like it when it looks like it's about to rain,"_ said Connor.

"What's the news?" asked Lilah, pushing Mirany away from her when she tried to listen.

_"Kadense is out of the game, but only for a little while. Apparently he recieved a tip that Mirany had gone to Australia so he'll be there for a while until he figures it out. He left a few hours ago, return date two months from now."_

"Who was the tip from?" asked Lilah, smirking.

_"A man named John Smith," _said Connor. _"Quite a good looking man if I do say so myself. Where's Mirany?"_

"Right to the point," said Lilah. "Okay, I guess you can know now."

She handed the phone to Mirany.

"Connor?" asked Mirany.

_"Mirany! Oh my god, thank god you're okay. What the hell were your thinking?"_

"I don't know," said Mirany. "I really don't."

_"Don't scare me like that again,"_ said Connor. _"I've already had enough scares from you."_

"Sorry," said Mirany. "I didn't mean it."

_"You were with Lilah this whole time?"_

"Yeah," said Mirany. "But she didn't want to alert that Kadense dude. What happened to him anyway?"

_"He's on holiday,"_ said Connor. _"Are you coming back now?"_

"Yeah," said Mirany. "Of course I am. Do you honestly think I want to spend any more time with Lilah?"

_"Good,"_ said Connor.

"Can I talk to him again?" asked Lilah.

"Lilah wants you," said Mirany.

_"Who doesn't?"_ asked Connor and Mirany rolled her eyes as she handed the phone back to Lilah, who immediately got to her feet and walked out of the office.

"Okay, sure," Mirany called after her. "You do that. I'll just sit and wait while you keep me from my boyfriend."

...

"Connor, I have news about Mirany that I haven't been able to tell her," said Lilah. "I've had my scientists look over Mirany's tests and run a few of their own and I can't find a way to tell her this."

_"Oh, that's not good,"_ said Connor. _"You should tell her, she hates not being told things."_

"I know," said Lilah. "But she'll probably hate being told this."

_"What do you mean?"_ asked Connor. _"What's wrong?"_

"The Parvovirus is progressing slightly faster than they said it was going to," said Lilah.

_"How much faster?"_ asked Connor, who sounded as though he really didn't want to hear the answer.

"Let me put it this way," said Lilah. "By the time Kadense comes back...he'll be looking up her grave."

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and then...

_"You should tell her,"_ said Connor. _"You have to tell her."_

"Can you imagine her reaction, hearing that from me?" asked Lilah. "I can't tell her that."

_"I'm not telling her,"_ said Connor firmly. _"You found it out. You gotta do it. And you can't leave her in the dark because she will find out and she'll be even angrier. Just tell her."_

"Connor she trusts you. She doesn't trust me."

_"She would if you were honest to her,"_ said Connor. _"If you didn't try to kill her and manipulate her, she'd trust you."_

"It goes further back than a few months ago," Lilah snapped. "That's only one of the reasons she doesn't trust me."

_"I know about your history Lilah,"_ said Connor. _"I know what you did to her and I know that only you can put it right. You tell her what you've found out and you help her. If anyone's going to be able to help her now with this it's you and your resources. FIND OUT! FIND OUT HOW TO STOP THIS AND MAKE AMENDS GOD DAMN IT! YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN STOP THIS! IF YOU CARE AT ALL, YOU'LL TELL HER AND YOU'LL FIGURE OUT HOW TO STOP IT!_ _And if you don't care, then what the hell are you doing with her?_"

He hung up and Lilah stared at the phone in shock. He hadn't expected an outburst like that from him.

"Can I go now?" asked Mirany from the doorway, making Lilah jump. "It's not like I need to lay low anymore."

"Yeah, sure," said Lilah. "But um...can I have a word with you?"

Mirany stared at her for a moment.

"Sure," she said, following Lilah back into the office and sitting down.

Lilah sat down behind her desk and took a deep breath.

...

"Two months?" asked Mirany.

Lilah nodded slowly. Mirany sat back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling.

"You know, it's strange," she said to the plaster. "Connor wasn't going to tell me if he didn't have to. And here you are telling me straight off the bat, and then telling me that your people are doing everything they can to find a cure. You could have not told me, spiked a drink or something and I'd never have known. I'd have just thought I'd fought it off. Of all the people to be honest with me, I didn't expect it to be you."

"Connor did what he thought was right," said Lilah. "Now I'm doing what I think is right. You don't need people keeping this sort of information from you. But just because you know this doesn't mean you should go and get yourself killed early like you almost did the other night. You have people helping you. Don't throw it all always just because you don't think you've got a chance."

Mirany stared at her.

"Why are you being nice to me?" she asked. "Why do you even care? A few months ago you were all for killing me. Now you don't even have to do any work. What changed? Why are you being so un-Lilah-ish?"

"Lilah's only one personality," said Lilah. "The other's been locked away for a while, but a teenage girl on the edge of death unlocked the door, and now she's free to undo what her double did."

"You...you're actually saying...you're actually my sister?" asked Mirany.

Lilah smiled slightly.

"And it's been long overdue."

...

"I bet rooming with Lilah isn't something you'll miss," said Connor, runnig his fingers through her hair as Mirany sat down beside him.

"It had it's ups and downs," said Mirany.

"The ups being?" asked Connor.

"I got to sow the seeds of disruption among many of the Wolfram and Hart crew," said Mirany. "The downside to that was that Lilah caught me every time and eventually just put on an announcement saying that the news reports were right and I am compeltely insane and not to listen to a word I say."

"Hmm, I can see how that might put a dent in your plans," said Connor. "Any other ups or downs?"

"Found out I have two months to live, instead of five," said Mirany.

"I'm not gonna let that happen," said Connor.

"Neither is Lilah apparently," said Mirany.

"How do you mean?" asked Connor, pretending as though he didn't know.

"We're on the road to making up," said Mirany. "It's a long road, but we're on it."

"Good," said Connor. "So you should be."

"But until we do actually make up, I'm appointing you as the official mediator," said Mirany and Connor groaned.

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**I hope you enjoyed this one. I had fun writing most of it, particularly the scene between Kadense and Connor :) Please review and again I say if you have any quotes that you would like me to use, I'll see what I can do about them. Just leave them in the reviews. I'll try my best but I can't promise anything. I will try though and I'll have another one up soon.**


	17. Primal Instincts

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**I'm writing this one in first person, because I can and the last time I did it you seemed to like it so I'll do it again. Don't be confused. I might have the occasional slip up in which I will put it in thrid person rather than first, but it should be remedied fairly quickly. Enjoy and review.**

* * *

_**"He's mad that trusts in the tameness of a wolf." - Shakespeare**_

* * *

"Food," I muttered distractedly, rummaging through cupboards and fridges, searching for anything that didn't look or smell like it would make me empty my stomach again. "God damn it, I need food."

"Yeah, because that went really well the last time," said Connor sarcastically.

"I have been starving myself for two days," I hissed. "If I don't eat something right now I'm going to pass out."

"I suppose it's quite a feat for you," said Connor. "Seeing as you spend every spare moment eating some crap. Why don't you eat an apple or something?"

"What? One of the hydraulically grown pieces if 'food' that you Americans seem to think actually have a taste?" I asked, air quoting the word 'food.' "Thanks but I think I'll pass."

"Surely you can buy organic," said Connor. "It's not _that_ expensive."

"I do," I said. "On those rare occasions that I actually want fruit. Where are some chips? Can you believe it? I'm an effing billionaire and I don't have a single packet of chips."

"Hey, calm down," said Connor, running his hand down my arm as he reached over me into the cupboard. "I think you'll find that the chips are up here where Sophia tries to hide them. And the organic fruit that you rarely eat is sitting right within your reach."

"Just give me the chips," I groaned, not even caring to snap back at his hint.

"And you honestly think that junk food is the answer to your problem?" asked Connor, holding the chips just out of my reach. Damn him.

"Look, I have drunk my body weight in water and that's acutally a lot more water than you think it is. I need something to soak it up. If you don't give me that packet right now I will single-handedly take off your arm."

Connor knew that I was far from joking at this stage and handed me the packet without another word, instead contenting himself with scowling disapprovingly and taking an apple for himself.

"It wouldn't kill you, you know," he said, taking a bite into it then choking. "What is this?"

"Fruit with flavour," I said as he spat out the bite and threw the rest of the apple out. "What were you saying about it not killing me?"

"You should sue," said Connor.

"You should broaden your taste buds first," I said.

"I will if you stop eating crap non-stop," said Connor.

"Then I guess neither of us will get what we want," I said, sitting down.

Connor rolled his eyes and sat beside me, pulling me down onto his chest.

"So, how goes it with Lilah?" he asked.

"Better than Lilah was expecting," said Lilah from the doorway. "Of course, Lilah was expecting to be ripped apart, so anything better than death is better than Lilah was expecting."

"Does Lilah always talk in the third person or is she just doing it to annoy Mirany?" I asked, scowling at her.

"Hello to you too," said Lilah, tossing a small bottle at me. "Drink it. Should help with the nausea."

"What are you doing here?" asked Connor as I all but sculled the bottle. "I thought it wasn't sensible to be seen fratinising with the enemy."

"I'm the CEO of Wolfram and Hart," said Lilah. "I punish others for fratinising with the enemy. They can't punish me."

"Hypocryte," I muttered.

"Werewolf," Lilah snapped back and Connor had to keep a tight hold on me to stop me from diving at her.

"Careful," he told Lilah. "Her temper's getting shorter."

"Maybe people are just annoying me more," I suggested, flopping back against his chest.

"Probably got something to do with the wolf thing," said Lilah. "They have short tempers as well."

"You do know that I'm not actually a wolf?" I asked. "I don't even act like a wolf."

But I knew as I said this that it wasn't true. I was actually like a wolf. Every night I patrolled I wouldn't just walk around looking for something to fight, I would stalk them until I thought they were the most vulnerable. I didn't really want to be eating chips right now, I wanted to be eating raw meat, which I have already done, and despite all my human instincts screaming at me that it was wrong and majorly weird, there were other instincts playing their part, instincts that were stronger than human ones. And I was sure the other day that I had actually howled. My senses were even more finely in tune than they had been. I could see every blonde hair on Lilah's arms with amazing clarity, every speck of dust on the furniture (which I was going to have to have a word to Sophia and the crew about), every single little thing that the human eye shouldn't be able to see, I could. When Lilah had walkd in I had almost been knocked out by the smell of her perfume, and Connor's breathing in my ear sounded like a hurricane.

"You were growling at me yesterday," said Lilah.

Oh yeah, and I growl.

"And you did lick me the other day," said Connor.

And lick.

"And..." started Lilah.

"Alright," I interrupted. "I get it. You may as well let me out on a full moon so that I can howl at it or something."

"Calm down," Connor whispered, rubbing his cheek against mine.

He smelt good. Nothing like Lilah. He smelt sweet, but not that sickly sweet that Angel smelt like. A nice sweet. Fresh, like a rainforest or something. God, he was everything I could ever have imagined. I really hoped he knew that. He acted like he did. He was always there for me, protecting me or calming me down. He loved me without pressuring me into anything, even though I could feel the longing he had for something more. He was beyond perfect. He was a bloody god. I ran my fingers over the ripples in his chest where the well toned muscles resided, beyond glad that we hadn't continued to hate each other like it had looked like we would.

"Why _are_ you here?" I asked. "I thought we weren't..."

I paused, breathing as deeply as possible as I felt barely digested food make it's way back up my oesophagus.

"I know we weren't meeting again until Thursday but my scientists just came up with that," said Lilah, nodding at the now empty bottle sitting on the coffee table, "and I thought I'd better give it to you before you starved yourself to death."

"When does it start working?" I groaned, getting unsteadily to my feet and making my way back over to the basin I had spent the past few days hugging.

"Not for a while," said Lilah. "Which is why I decided to bring it round as soon as possible."

"Well, it's a good thing you're here," said Angel, walking in. "You can help out."

"Oh great, just what I need," I muttered, trying to shut off my sense of smell as perfume and vampire filled my nose. "Two devil incarnates in my house."

"What's happened?" Connor asked his father as he rubbed my back comfortingly.

While my wolf side had been showing more prominently and had started to become useful, it was also my diseased side, which meant that my symptoms progressed just as fast, becoming a serious problem. I was much weaker than I had been a few months ago, relying more and more upon my weapons than my strength to stop various soulless creatures from taking my life early, and as far as food went, well, I think it's pretty obvious how that was going. The only thing that I hadn't yet brought up was the raw meat that I had had a few days ago, but there was no way in hell that I was going to gross everyone out the way Angel did by eating raw meat in front of them. I was passing out a bit too, blacking out for at least half an hour a day if someone wasn't there to wake me up. This was becoming my biggest problem. I was afraid that I might pass out halfway through a fight and end up very dead. I wasn't the only one afraid of this, because now insisted that someone was with me when I was patrolling, sure that sooner or later it would happen. I had already passed out a couple of times and sustained some fairly substantial injuries from it.

"And just why would I want to help out?" asked Lilah.

"What question do you want me to answer first?" asked Angel.

I was beginning to get worried about Connor now though. It wasn't as if he wasn't getting enough sleep or anything, he just seemed to trust me too much. That time I had licked him, he thought I was just coming onto him, but it hadn't been that way at all. I had wanted to taste him. I was becoming increasingly aware of the smell of the flesh around me, and was beginning to understand why Angel was so broody. He was training himself mentally, stopping himself from attacking. I was getting worried that Connor was in danger when he was around me.

"Lilah's," I said, fighting the urge to throw up. "Because if she doesn't have a good reason to help then I can probably call on that one as well."

"You have a good enough reason not to help," said Connor.

"Oh stop protecting her," said Lilah, rolling her eyes. "She's still able to fight. She just has to start learning what it's like to fight without muscles."

"Because if you don't help out then I'll annoy Mirany, who'll in turn annoy you," said Angel.

"Sounds like I good enough reason to me," said Lilah.

"Again I ask, what's happened?" asked Connor.

I straightened up, managing to keep down the packet of chips.

"Yeah," I said. "Why do you even need Lilah's help?"

"Six heads are better than five," said Angel. "A group of demons have been bashing their way through LA the past couple of nights and I'm tired of getting there just a little too late. I wanna find out where they plan to go next and I wanna stop them."

"Of course you do," I muttered. "Never mind waiting for someone to actually come and say that there's a problem, let's go and fight a bunch of big, burly demons that might kill us without the prospect of getitng paid."

"I don't pay you anyway," said Angel.

"Not the point," I said.

"What exactly is the point then?" asked Angel.

"Back to the original point," Connor interrupted. "How do you plan on finding out?"

"Through these two," said Angel, pointing at me and Lilah. "And I'll find out how to kill them through Wesley's books."

"You have it all planned out, don't you?" asked Lilah.

"But your plan counts on me and Lilah wanting to join in," I pointed out.

"You'll join in whether you like it or not," said Angel.

"And what makes you think that?" I asked.

"Because if you don't I'll shove food down your throat and you'll spend the next week bringing it back up," said Angel.

"Tell me again, you do have a soul right?" asked Lilah. "You really would do wonders in Wolfram and Hart..."

"Don't even think about it," said Angel.

"Yeah Lilah, this isn't a recruiting session," I said. "Alright, fine, I'll help. But you've got buckley's if you think I'm not going to seek revenge for you using me like this."

"I'll be ready," said Angel carelessly.

"What are they?" asked Lilah. "I'll see if anyone knows anything."

"Trifurs," said Angel and Connor choked.

"You honestly think that we can stop a gang of those things?" he asked.

"Connor's right," I said. "And for once I'm not agreeing just because I don't want to follow you orders. Trifurs are dangerous. Poisoned teeth, poisoned claws, poisoned skin...poisoned everything really. You can't seriously expect that we'll survive going up against them. One hit and we're dead in twenty minutes."

"That's why Wesley's out for the antidote," said Angel. "Don't worry, I have it all sorted. You just talk to contacts, I'll do the rest."

"I notice you're not actually doing anything until the fight," I said.

"I'm a hands on kinda guy," said Angel.

"Too right you are," Lilah muttered. I don't think she knew that I could hear.

_Hmm. What's going on there?_

"Alright, if you're done ordering me around, get out," I said impatiently. "I don't need anyone supervising my computer searching."

"What? No banging down doors?" asked Angel.

"Banging down doors is a lot easier to do when you have the strength to do it," Connor pointed out. "And fainting in the doorway probably won't be very scary either."

"You better get cured quickly," said Angel, scowling. "You're not helping things much."

"I'm sorry I'm diseased," I snarled. "I'll try harder not to mutate into a part wolf/part human something and catch a deadly disease that only canines can catch in the future."

Connor squeezed my shoulder but I took no notice. Hurting Angel wouldn't exactly make me feel particularly guilty.

"I think maybe you should calm down," Angel suggested. "You're growling again."

I was indeed growling right from the back of my throat. I started towards him. The bastard needed to be put in his place once and for all. It was Lilah who stopped me.

"Think about this Mirany," she said. "He's a lot stronger than you at the moment. It would be stupid to try to kill him while you're ill."

I glared at her for a moment then dropped back. Connor immediately wrapped his arms around me, whether to stop me from leaping at Angel or just because he wanted to.

"Call me when you have something," said Angel, leaving the room.

"Don't let him get to you," said Lilah, leaving as well.

"Mirany, babe," Connor whispered in my ear. "Let it go. Calm down."

With the other smells gone, Connor's scent filled my nose and I relaxed into his arms.

"You should rest," he said.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Because you've just put your blood pressure up by a good notch or two and if you don't at least lie down you'll pass out," said Connor.

"Logic, logic," I said, brushing his suggestion aside and breaking away from him, heading towards my computer. "I'll rest when I need to."

"You need to now," said Connor.

"No I don't," I said. "Besides, you can't talk. You're not even in focus."

Connor looked at me expectantly and a moment later blackness fell upon me.

...

I woke up with my head in Connor's lap and moaned at the light coming from the computer screen. Connor looked down at me and smiled.

"I decided to pick up where you left off," he said. "I didn't pass out but I pretty much went from that point."

"How long have I been out?" I asked, pushing myself to my feet and steadying myself with his head.

"Maybe an hour," said Connor, running his fingers through her hair.

"Have you found anything?" I asked, bending over him to squint at the screen.

"Just reports of old attacks," said Connor. "But I can't see a connection."

"Have you maped them out?" I asked and Connor pointed at the map beside him.

I examined the map, with red dots in random places all over it.

"There's got to be some pattern," I said.

Connor shook his head.

"Even the way they kill is all over the place," he said. "Completely random. I can't find any sort of pattern at all."

I turned the map upside down then just rotated it in random directions until I was sure I'd looked at it from all sides. I even flipped it over, not that it would have helped.

"Anything?" asked Connor.

"There's got to be a connection," I said. "What about the victims?"

"Ages, races, nationalities, backgrounds...all different. There's nothing," said Connor.

"What about Lilah?" I asked.

"Can't get in touch with her," said Connor. "Keeps going to voicemail and she's not at the office."

"That's not at all weird," I muttered sarcastically, making a mental note to quiz her about it later. "I guess we're on our own then."

As Connor continued to search, I continued to stare at the map. There had to be a connection. And after many minutes of confused glaring, I saw it. Snatching up the texta Connor had been using I began to join the dots. Connor watched over my shoulder.

"That doesn't look like anything but a bunch of lines," he said when I had finished.

"I should have known you wouldn't know it," I muttered. "Trifurs are Chinese. They're making a sign."

"So what's this one?" asked Connor.

I traced the almost complete symbol with my finger.

"Death," I said.

...

"You're sure this is the place?" asked Angel.

"Positive," I said. "And we need to leave right now. They're getting through three or four places a night, we don't have much time. They only have two more places to go before it's complete and we ahve no idea what it is that they might be summoning."

"Let's go then," said Angel but as I moved to follow him Connor caught my arm.

"You're not going," he said and I stared at him.

"What?"

"I'm not letting you go out and fight a bunch of demons when you're only at a fraction of your normal strength level," said Connor.

"Connor, I'm going whether you like it or not," I said firmly. "Let go."

"Mirany, he has a point," said Angel.

I stared at him.

"Like you care," I snapped. "And just because I'm not a hundred percent doesn't mean I can't beat up a few demons. I'll take a crossbow, kill them from long range."

"Dad," said Connor, turning to Angel, "you know it's not a good idea. I'll be a distraction to her, she'll be a distraction to me and this is not a fight that we want distractions in."

"We're wasting time arguing," I said, annoyed. "I'm coming whether you like it or not."

"No you're not," said Angel and Connor together.

I don't know exactly what happened to me, but I do know it wasn't normal. A snarl ripped from my throat and I felt for a moment as though I wanted to seize them by the neck and rip their throats right out. The feeling only lasted a few seconds though and I staggered away from them the moment it was gone.

"Go," I whispered, grabbing hold of a cross to make sure I was still human. It didn't burn me, so I felt a little more secure. "Hurry."

"Mirany, are you...?" started Connor.

"Go!" I snapped.

They didn't think twice and hurried from the room. I sat down shakily and stared at my knees. What was that? I had felt so...primal. But I knew what it was. It was the wolf in me, and it was getting more and more dangerous with every passing moment. I had been right. Connor wasn't safe. Not with me. He shouldn't trust me the way he did. I could kill him. One angry flare and I could kill him.

...

"Mirany?"

I pretended to be asleep as Connor opened the door, but it didn't last long. He saw almost straight through my charade as he lay down beside me, stroking my hair.

"You know that hiding isn't going to help anything," he said, kissing my forehead as I opened my eyes.

"You...you shouldn't be here," I said shakily. "Not with me. Not alone."

"Oh Mirany, so you snarled at me, so what?" asked Connor.

"I wanted to kill you," I said. "And not just the 'I'm really annoyed at you' wanting to kill you, the 'I am going to kill you because I'm angry and my instincts are telling me to' wanting to kill you. I could have. If it had lasted any longer I would have. You need to leave. You shouldn't be here."

Connor wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said. "I don't care how much you might sometimes feel like wanting to kill me, I know you could never do it. I know that there's a place deep down within you that would override your instincts before you acted on them. I know it Mirany, and I trust that place. I trust you. You wouldn't do it."

"Connor don't be so stubborn," I said. "You can't stay with me. I'm too dangerous."

"You have self control Mirany," said Connor. "And you have a conscience. You won't kill me, no matter how angry you get. And if you're really worried you can talk to dad. He goes through it every day. If anyone knows how to help you with this one, it's him."

I kissed him, tears running quietly down my cheeks. The kiss deepened and as I sank into Connor's embrace, I could sense that this was going somewhere new, but beautiful. And I was ready to let it.

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**So, how do you like it? Still enjoying the first person? I'm not sure what I like writing better actually. First person is good, but so is third person...I can't decide. Anyway, review and don't forget, I'm looking for quotes.**


	18. Old Friends

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**Okay, because everyone seems to like it so much when I write in first person, that's what I'm going to do from now on and I'll tell you if I plan on writing in third person for a chapter. I won't tell you whose perspective it'll be from each time, that's for you to work out :P With any luck you will figure it out fairly easily, assuming I'm as good a writer as my ego says I am. :P Although this time I will tell you because otherwise it could become a little confusing. In this chapter I will be switching perspectives between different people. The name of the character whose perpective it is should be in bold up the top. Anyway, enjoy. I'm rating this whatever's higher than T but still acceptable, I think it's M, because it has some coarse language in it. Not a lot, but to be on the safe side, M.**

* * *

_**"Shit happens." - Tony Abbott (If the rest of the media world is going to use it, why shouldn't I? Only for once it's not being used against him)**_

* * *

**MIRANY**

I woke up feeling almost semi-normal. I didn't feel quite so weak and even managed to keep a breakfast of fruit (ugh) down. It wasn't my idea to have fruit, it was Connor's. He was already there when I staggered out of my room in the usual fashion. Like he was ever going to let me have pretzels for breakfast. I have to admit I had been fooling myself a little with that one. Anyway, he was sitting there in his usual gorgeousness and he had tossed me an apple before I had made it halfway to the kitchen cupboards. I didn't complain. What was the point? Like I could get to the pretzels before him anyway at the moment. I need to find a good cook, that way I can wake up and have a breakfast of delicious greasy bacon and sausages every morning in bed and no-one can stop me.

The day also passed in almost semi-normalness, with the small exception that I didn't see Angel at all, a definite plus. The vampire was getting on my nerves more and more as my nerves began to get more and more frayed. Darn this wolf DNA thing. Connor hung around all day, providing moral support as my condition deteriorated from almost good to absolutely dreadful. By the time the sun had set I had fainted about four times and was lying on the couch with a golfball sized lump on the back of my head when it had encountered the dining table during my last faint attack.

So it came as no surprise to me when I couldn't muster the energy to fight back against three burly guys who had probably broken down the door to get in here. I wouldn't have heard them. The ringing in my ears was loud enough to drown out any outside noises, but I could see Connor fighting against another three guys as they dragged us further into the house. Into the house? Who goes to the trouble of kidnapping you then leaves you in your own house? I suppose with my place there was a little bit of an exception. The place was huge. It would probably take someone the same amount of time to find me in here as it would to find me in some underground storage area of an abandoned warehouse in LA.

To my surprise, I found Lilah and Angel already in the room that me and Connor were thrown, rather unceremoniously, into. Lilah's scowl, which had already been pretty heavy, increased.

"Great, just great, so not only am I blindfolded and brought here and then stuck in a room with him..." she gestured angrily at Angel. "But now our only hope to be 'rescued' has been pushed in with us. And our only hope just happens to be loud, annoying, bratty and about to die."

"Thank you for your vote of support," I said sarcastically.

In truth, it did look dire. Connor was barely at the hotel anymore, nobody knew what Lilah or I were doing, and Angel was probably prone to not being there for several days at a time as he went to kill things in far off places. Cordelia and Wesley, even if they did know we'd been taken, would probably not find us for a long time coming. And even though Connor, Lilah and I probably all had phones on us, we didn't even know who had us, and judging by Lilah's scowl, we were probably out of luck with reception anyway. Damn thick stone walls. I knew I should have put modems in places, but like I could be stuffed going around to all the low reception rooms in the place and putting up modems. That was what the house phones were for, something which we did not have in this room.

What we did have in this room was a couple of chairs, a desk and some filing cabinets. One of the million different studies in my house. Why I had so many studies was beyond me, I just did. But no matter how I looked at it, I coudn't see any of the things in this room being a big help to us, unless we broke of one of the chair legs and shoved it through Angel's chest while we still had the chance. Yeah, even when I'm kidnapped and dying I still have time to joke around. Joke, wink wink, nudge nudge.

"Obviously someone's got a grudge against all of us," said Angel. "Who do you reckon it is?"

"I dunno. Could be Lilah and she's just got herself kidnapped to make it convincing," I suggested.

"Could be Kadense," said Connor.

"But he was gone for two months. We still have a few more weeks don't we?" asked Lilah.

_"That's what would have happened if I had stayed,"_ said a threatening voice over the intercom.

"You know, you've committed about ten crimes already in the past ten minutes, all of which I will personally find the evidence for," I snapped. "And while I'm at it I'll make some very convincing evidence for charges I haven't even thought of yet."

_"Oh, not very nice," _said Kadense. _"You must be Mirany. Nice to meet you, despite your friend's attempts to keep me away."_

"Pleasure's all mine," I said hollowly. "What do you want?"

_"Oh, I've been wanting you for a long time,"_ said Kadense.

"Well, all you had to do was ask. I mean sure, I would have said no because I'm already in a relationship, but you didn't have to go to the trouble of trying to arrest me and then kidnapping me."

_"I know you murdered a dozen or people so I wouldn't get all too mixed up in giving evidence to the police,"_ said Kadense. _"In fact, if you don't want to be behind bars for the rest of your young life, you won't mention this to anyone."_

I considered the intercom. He had a point. Though he probably didn't have proof of any of those murders, it wasn't a cold case yet and it was more than likely that the police would jump at any suspects handed to them. But this guy was dirty. Everybody was looking at me expectantly. Obviously they hadn't decided to take the initiative and start talking. We all knew I was probably just going to dig myself into a bigger hole. Why didn't they stop me?

"Fuck you," I snapped at the com and Kadense chuckled from the other side.

_"Such a fiery temper. Would it be quite so fiery if I had a cure?"_

I stared, completely silenced. He couldn't...he couldn't possibly...he couldn't have a cure. Neither Lilah nor Jason had a cure. How could he?

"You...you don't have a cure," I said shakily. "You can't."

_"But I do, and I will give it to you if you help me,"_ said Kadense.

"I'm not helping you with anything," I snarled, but my anger was beginning to go to my head and I was feeling dizzy. I knew what happened next and clutched onto Lilah, who was closest, trying to steady myself as best I could before I could faint. "I'm not...I won't..."

_"You're feeling dizzy. The next thing you know will be blackness, and when you wake up you'll have a headache large enough to take down an elephant. You'll throw up whatever is in your stomach and you'll probably end up falling asleep, where you'll be out of it for twelve hours at the least. Do you really want to continue through with that routine until it gets so bad that you die?"_

I couldn't think. I was so dizzy. The walls were closing in on me and black spots clouded my vision. I wasn't in my right mind, and he knew that. He was playing me. I couldn't say it but I was so sick...

"No," I whispered. "I don't...want...this..."

...

**LILAH**

I caught Mirany as she fainted dead to the floor. I had hoped Kadense hadn't heard her last whisper, but the damage was done.

_"When she wakes up, she'll have the chance to let two of you go,"_ he said. _"And I'll let the third go when she agrees completely. You tell her that. And then tell her that if she doesn't agree, then all of you will die, whether I've let two of you go or not."_

With that, the intercom crackled for a moment, then went silent. The first thing Connor did before the silence was broken was make sure that it was turned off.

"He's got nerve," he said. "Kidnapping Mirany in her own house. What the hell's going on? Is Kadense working for the guy that told me Mirany was sick do you reckon?"

"It's a possibility," I said, sitting down against the wall and resting Mirany's head in my lap. "After all, he did say that Mirany had a role to play."

"Whoever he's working for is not our concern at the moment," said Angel. "Assuming we don't get out of here by the time she wakes up, we should decide who's going and who's staying behind."

"Us," said Connor at once. "You and me."

"You want to leave her with me?" I asked.

"You've done it before," said Connor pointedly. "Besides, we can fight on the outside. Get information and stuff. He doesn't mind us. We can find out what's going on. I'm judging by your scowl that you and he don't get along. Anyway, Kadense and I...we got a game to play."

"I'm going to die because of you lot, aren't I?" I asked.

"Probably," said Angel shortly. "So, wake her up."

"No," said Connor at once. "You wake her up right after she's fainted and in two seconds she'll be out again. She's too weak now. She can only keep herself awake for a few hours before she needs to recharge. Don't wake her up. Don't even think about trying or we'll never get out of here. Just leave her alone. She'll come round eventually."

"And if she doesn't?" asked Angel.

"Then she's fallen into a coma and we're all stuffed," I said. "Why don't we hope for the waking up thing?"

"I dunno, not having her in my ear is a fairly good experience," said Angel.

"She said that about you too," said Connor. "Do you think maybe while we're holed up like this you could zip it before you insult her?"

"Oh please. Like she could possibly do anything to me," Angel scoffed.

"She can't, but I can," Connor muttered.

I ignored the pair of them as they bickered. They were more like brothers than father and son. They _looked_ more like brothers, what with Angel stuck at a firm twenty-something-or-other. They were pretty much the same as Mirany and me. Speaking of, my little slight earlier probably hadn't helped the relationship along very much, but it wasn't my fault really. I mean, I had just been kidnapped. I was bound to be in a bad mood. Almost absentmindedly I began to stroke Mirany's hair away from her face, running my fingers through it. Connor flashed me a look, a very slight smirk on his face, but I took no notice of it. This was a reminder of all the nights Mirany had fallen asleep in fron of the TV with me when had had our movie marathons. They hadn't felt so special to me at the time, but now they felt like gold. It's not like it was ever going to happen again.

Connor finally broke me out of my trance as he sat down beside me, defeated. Whether he had actually lost or just decided the fight wasn't worth fighting, I didn't know.

...

**CONNOR**

When Lilah had sat down with Mirany in her lap, I couldn't help but feel proud of my girl for working things out with her sister. I knew they had a fair way to go, but month ago Lilah wouldn't have even considered catching Mirany when she fainted, let alone being her pillow. And I was going to make sure that they kept at it...if we made it out of this alive.

Kadense coming back had been a shock I hadn't expected, and I certainly hadn't needed it. But it didn't really scare me all that much, the prospect that we might all die. I was always doing stuff where I might die. No, what scared me was that he knew the buttons to press. He had known how to get Mirany to agree, he had known when to come for Mirany, because if he had sent his men a few hours earlier she might have actually fought them. He knew everything about us. That was the problem. So beside me and dad being more likely to finish this from the outside, I had suggested us to be let go because he wouldn't be expecting it, at least, as far as I knew. I was fairly positive that he would have been expecting me to stay with Mirany. With any luck, I would throw him a bit.

"What do you think he wants with her?" I asked. "It's not as if she's of much use at the moment."

"Could be anything," said Lilah.

Angel scoffed and we looked up at him, Lilah with raised eyebrows, me with a scowl.

"What now?" I snapped.

"I just think that statement's wrong," said dad. "Like you said, she's not a whole lot of use at the moment. There's not a whole lot she can do. He knows about her disease so he knows this fact. So Lilah's 'could be anything' is very wrong. Kadense probably wants Mirany because she has contacts that far outstrip anyone else's."

"That was actually a smart suggestion," said Lilah.

"I'm full of them," said dad, grinning wolfishly at her.

I blinked and the grin turned slightly less wolfish. Maybe I had just imagined it. I glanced at Lilah but her face was complete unreadable. It couldn't be possible that while Mirany and I were getting serious, Lilah and dad were doing the same thing. That was just wrong. Too wrong to even think about. If they were together it would feel as though I was dating my sister, which was just...words idn't describe how wrong that was, even though technically it'd be more like dating my aunt, but I wasn't even going to go there. Praying to God that I was imagining things, I looked down at Mirany to stop myself from seeing any other unwelcome signs.

Mirany did not look good. Compared to this morning, when she had even had a little colour in her cheeks again, she looekd almost like a ghost. She was pale as snow except for the huge, dark bags around her eyes, signifying that even with all the rest she was getting, she needed far more. Her face was gaunt and she looked far too thin. She was beginning to waste away before my very eyes. As much as I didn't want to, I really hoped that Kadense did actually have the cure, and that in her slightly sane mind, Mirany would take it. If she didn't I'd probably force it down her throat or hold her down while I injected her if I had to. I had made a promise to her. I wasn't going to let it happen. She wasn't going to die.

...

**MIRANY**

I groaned in pain as I came back to reality. My head was killing me and the lights in the room didn't help. So when I saw Lilah staring down at me I thought maybe it was just a trick of the light, or maybe my brain was finally giving in and I was having illusions. I blinked several times, but Lilah's face didn't go away. She really was right above me.

"About time," she muttered. "I can't feel my legs. You way a bloody tonne."

"Thanks," I muttered, moving to sit up, but Connor flashed into view and kept me down.

"Just take a moment," he said.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You fainted," said Lilah and Angel together, both sounding annoyed.

"No, what happened while I was asleep?" I asked, pushing myself up despite Connor's scowl.

"Kadense gave us an offer," said Connor.

"An offer we really can't afford to pass over," said Lilah.

"What...?"

"Two of us can go now," said Angel. "And Lilah can go once you've agreed to Kadense's deal."

"What? You're leaving me with Lilah?" I asked incredulously.

"Hey," said Lilah indignantly.

"We're more likely to stop this that way," said Connor, brushing my fringe out of my eyes.

I frowned. He probably did have a point, but Lilah...I'd spent enough time alone with Lilah already. Even if she wasn't going to kill me, she was still a pain in the ass. Still, like I could stop them.

"Alright," I sighed. "I'll stay with my sodding sister."

"Your 'sodding sister' is going to give you one hell of a whipping later," Lilah threatened.

"Oh bring it on," I said. "I dare you to."

Lilah's eyes had that shiny look that said she was all to happy to go through with that. Probably not my smartest move ever.

"Talk to Kadense," said Angel impatiently. "The quicker we get out of here, the quicker this will end."

"Jeez, impatient much?" I asked. "I only just woke up."

"No, you woke up a few minutes ago. Now you talk to Kadense," said Angel.

As much as I would have liked to continue arguing, I didn't. There wasn't really any point. I was going to have to talk to him sooner or later. May as well get it done now. Connor helped me as I struggled to my feet, swaying dangerously as the blood rushed to my head. After a moment, I was as steadied as I could be and I turned the intercom on.

"Hello? Anybody there? I'm looking fo an annoying, law-breaking woman who thinks she's actually a man," I said.

_"You test my patience Mirany, you really do,"_ said Kadense.

"Oh trust me, it's not just you," Angel muttered.

_"Have you reached a decision?"_ asked Kadense, and I could almost hear the smirk he was undoubtably wearing.

"Well, Lilah and I thought it might be nice to have a girl's night in," I said. "Catch up on old times, giggle about guys, plot your death, you know, the usual stuff. You're free to join in if you admit to being a woman."

_"Let the guys go,"_ I heard Kadense mutter quietly, obviously talking to someone nearby.

A second later the lock clicked and the door swung open just wide enough for a man to poke his head in and gesture at Connor and Angel. Connor kissed me and walked out after his father, who had been out the door almost before the man had had time to gesture. The door closed and the lock clicked again. At least we knew he was close. That was something. Wouldn't be quite so hard to find him when we got out, and i had every intention of finding him. I wanted to smell his blood. I'd finally accepted that I was going to feel like this now. The cravings for raw meat, the thrill of the hunt...it was wolf nature, it was my nature.

_"Mirany, I trust now you know exactly what the price is to let your sister go as well," _said Kadense.

"Aw, she doesn't need to be let go," I said carelessly. "She's evil after all. Reminds me of it every day. Evil things really shouldn't be allowed to walk around unchecked. I'm thinking I'll just leave her here. It'd do her some good."

"You are kidding right?" Lilah whispered and I smirked.

_"Here's my offer. Listen carefully and consider quickly because this is for a limited time only and I'm not going to repeat myself."_

"Well it's good then that I have such good hearing and all. And I've always been quick thinking."

Lilah snorted slightly.

"You're a bit more on the act before you think side rather than the think before you act side Mirany," she said.

"Oh, like you can talk," I snapped.

"I can. I've been doing it for years now. I'm actually quite good at it," said Lilah, smirking.

_"If you agree to do a task for me, I'll give you your cure and I'll be compeltely out of your hair,"_ said Kadense, ignoring our snapping match.

"And what exactly is this task?" I asked.

_"Ah, there's the catch,"_ said Kadense. _"You don't get told the task until you agree."_

"Well, what if I can't do the task?" I asked. "What if I'm not tall enough or something?"

_"You're plenty tall for this,"_ said Kadense._ "Do we have a deal?"_

Despite Lilah's previous comment, I did think about this. I could finish this all right now. I could be cured, Kadense could be gone, everything would be back to normal. How bad could the task be? Maybe you just had to be a girl to do the task. Kinda hard for a guy to copy that. But it could be something terrible. He might want me to assasinate the President or something. Did I really want to take the risk?

_Yes,_ said a small voice in my head. _You really do. You're going to die otherwise. And if you don't agree, Lilah will to, and possibly everyone else. Just do it. You've killed before anyway. You can't get any worse._

I glanced at Lilah, but she didn't give any indication of her view on it. It was entirely up to me. I took a painful breath. I could feel my lungs slowly, very slowly, giving up on me. I had a week, two at most. I had to take the chance that he could help. And if he couldn't, it wouldn't make any difference to me. Even if he got me to kill someone. I wasn't going to be around for long enough to really grieve about it.

"Yes," I sighed. "We have a deal. I would shake on it but you know, if I stick my hand through the intercom all I'm going to find is wires."

_"Excellent,"_ said Kadense. _"How simple was that? So, let's get you out of there and you can come and find out what you have to do."_

"You didn't let me finish," I said. "We have a deal, sure, but that deal will be that I get that cure before I do anything for you."

There was silence for a moment.

_"Fine,"_ said Kadense. _"I'll be right over."_

He cut off the connection and I looked back at Lilah.

"Did I do the right thing?" I asked.

"Out of the choice you had, yes," said Lilah.

Although it wasn't exactly the biggest comfort in the world to know that Lilah thought I had done the right thing, it was a comfort, and I took that moment to savour it. I didn't know what was coming, but I knew that at least one person had been thinking along the same lines.

"Thanks," I muttered.

The door opened and a man walked into the room. Judging by Lilah's frown at him, I guessed that this was Kadense. He did seem to have that FBI gone rogue look to him. Okay, so I've never actually seen someone with that look before, but that's what I would ahve expected it to look like. He was dressed in a suit, but he had an evil glint in his eye, kinda like Lilah did when she was planning something.

"I advise you to leave Morgan," he said to Lilah. "Before I make you."

"Why did you change your name?" I asked her.

"A story for another time," said Lilah pointedly. "Don't cause too much trouble."

I grinned at her.

"Trouble's my middle name," I said.

"Quite," said Lilah disapprovingly before leaving the room.

That left me and Kadense alone in the room. Oh how I wanted to strangle him, but I restrained myself. In my present state, it probably wasn't a good idea. Violence, at the moment, was not an option.

"Sit down Mirany," said Kadense. He said it kindly, but he didn't seem to mean it to be kind. It was a sort of threatening kindness and I sat without a thought.

Kadense was pulled a very small glass bottle out of his pocket and tossed it to me. I caught it, barely, and held it up to the light. The liquid inside it was a blueish colour and there seemed to be bits of something floating in it. It did not look appealing, whatever it was.

"Drink up Slayer. You've got a job to do and you haven't got long to do it," said Kadense impatiently. "Don't mind the taste. It'll probably burn your insides for a moment or two but that's just the demon blood taking affect."

I paused, looking at him suspiciously.

"Don't worry," said Kadense. "It's one of those mixtures that's banned in every legal system because it involves killing to make. That there's blood from three different demons, with tiny little bits of their hearts in there as well. Cures anything in the world, human, animal or demon."

I felt like throwing up just from his description of it and I really didn't trust my stomach to keep this down, but what choice did I have? Steeling myself, I unscrewed the cap and swallowed the whole contents in one gulp. There was nothing but the terrible taste for a moment, and then the pain started. It did indeed feel like burning, like there was a fire running through my veins, but I couldn't stop it. I feel to my hands and knees, gasping as the mixture of blood took affect. And as the fire inside me began to ebb away, I began to feel stronger, fitter, healthier. It started out like I had felt this morning, and then before long I was starting to really feel myself again. It surprised me that Lilah hadn't come up with this, but maybe even she wasn't allowed to go as far as to take three lives, probably of Wolfram and Hart clients, to save the life of someone who would never, ever join Wolfram and Hart.

"Feeling better? Good, then let's get down to business."

Kadense's impatience reminded me of Angel's.

"What do you want?" I asked cautiously.

As Kadense explained, I could feel my eyes widen. It hadn't at all been what I had expected.

...

**CONNOR**

"Okay, I really hadn't expected him to get down to business so quickly," I said. "I was sre he'd draw it out."

"He wanted this done, and it wanted it done straight away," said Mirany. "He didn't have time for it to be drawn out."

"So what did he want?" asked dad.

"He wanted me to get him an amulet," said Mirany. "Kinda weird actually. They're fairly common. Walk down to your local magic shop and you'll probably find one. It wasn't anything special."

"What do you think he wants it for?" I asked.

Mirany shrugged, sitting down beside me and lying against my chest.

"Dunno," she said. "But I doubt we've heard the last of him."

"Oh, I bet we haven't," said dad gravely. "Not after the cure he produced to you. I didn't even know something like that existed."

"Nobody did," I said. "Even Lilah didn't. I think you're right. If we've seen him for the last time, then I'm really not complaining. I don't think he's someone we particularly want to go up against. Not for real."

"Well, until we do come across him again, I am happy to put him way out of my mind," said Mirany. "Just like Angel is happy to leave now so that I can spend some quality time with my boy without fainting."

"I'd make you swoon anyway," I said, grinning at her.

Angel shuddered.

"For once, she's right," he said. "I'll be taking my leave now thanks."

Neither of us took any notice of his leaving. We were too absorbed in each other to register anything else in the room.


	19. Vice Versa

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Sorry for the delay on this one. I started writing it then got serious writer's block so everything I wrote after a point was absolutely terrible. I think I've re-written this about fifty times now. Anyway, hopefully it won't happen again and I'll have another one up soon. Maybe if you have suggestions for a theme for the next chapter you could put them in a review, and I'm always on the lookout for new quotes as well. Anyway, enjoy and don't forget to review :)**

* * *

_**"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb inside their skin and walk around in it." - Atticus Finch - 'To Kill a Mockingbird'**_

* * *

I wrapped my arms around Mirany's waist and she jumped, turning to look at me.

"How do you do that?" she asked. "You're turning into your dad."

"Take that back," I said, pretending to be insulted.

She smirked.

"What are you doing?" I asked, gesturing at the night outside the window she was looking out of.

"Oh...uh...nothing," said Mirany nonchalantly.

"Not true," I said. "You do many things and give that explanation but rarely are you actually doing nothing."

"Dunno what you're talking about," said Mirany carelessly, but she seemed to be fighting something inside herself.

"You were about to howl, weren't you?" I asked. "Full moon and all?"

"Whoa," said Mirany, covering her ears with her hands. "Don't even let me _hear_ those words. It's hard enough to stop myself already."

"Sorry," I said, trying and failing to surpress a smirk as she dropped her hands. "...full moon."

Mirany glared at me and made to walk away but I tightened my hold on her.

"Don't go," I said. "I'll stop, I promise. But you have to admit that it's slightly funny."

"No, no I do not have to admit that and will not because it's not funny," said Mirany firmly.

"Alright, I get it," I said before she could really get offended.

"Angel want me tonight?" Mirany asked.

"Nup," I said, shaking my head. "We have the night off until he comes and says that he's changed his mind and actually does want us."

"I notice you have the night off too," said Mirany.

"Well," I said, "couldn't leave you all by yourself on your night off now, could I? You might get into trouble or something."

Mirany smiled and kissed me.

"Good thinking," she said. "Not worth the risk."

...

When I woke up the next morning, the first thing that hit me was my sudden amazingly good sense of smell. I already had a good sense of smell, but this was so much more. My nostrils were filled with all sorts of smells that I wouldn't have been able to describe if I had wanted to. Next to hit me was the sense of sight. I could see every tiny speck of dust and dirt, every fibre of everything around me. And then my sense of hearing kicked in. I could hear, far, far away, the traffic of an LA morning. Something was wrong here. Something was far beyond wrong.

And when I rolled over I found out what. I had to exercise some serious self-control to stop myself from yelling in shock. I was lying there. I could see myself lying in front of me. And then I looked down at myself. I swear I could have fainted then and there. I was not in my body. I was in a slightly shorter, much more femine body. I ran a hand down my body, trying to figure out a logical reason for what I was seeing, but as I felt the curves, I knew there was no other explanation. I had gone to sleep in one body, and woken up in the next. And from what I could tell, my body was still breathing and functioning, and I could only assume that Mirany was going to get the same shock I'd just had.

Deciding it was probably best to leave me...Mirany...asleep, I climbed out of the bed and staggered over to the mirror. I had to stagger. I was shorter than usual and definitely wasn't used to it. Once I had seen my reflection there really was no denying it. I groaned slightly as the realisation finally hit me. I was Mirany. I was a teenage girl and slayer with impulse issues. This could not be any worse. I was going to get mood swings, and cravings and...oh man, full moon...I was gonna howl. And I couldn't even bring myself to think about the whole biological aspect of things. Periods and breasts and...ugh. Whatever had happened, it had better be reversible.

Mirany...I...never mind...was beginning to get restless now, muttering and rolling around. A few moments later she had opened _my_ eyes. It didn't take long for her to figure out that something was wrong. It was probably a combination of all her senses being different and that she probably felt taller.

"Connor?" she muttered. She paused, cleared her throat and repeated my name.

"Yeah, right there with you," I said.

"Is there something...whoa."

Mirany jumped out of bed when she saw herself then toppled over as she realised that she wasn't quite the same height as she had been.

"What...how did this...what's going on?" she groaned, pulling herself up again with the bed and looking down at my body.

"If I knew, then it would have been fixed before you woke up," I said. "I'm a bloody girl!"

"You think you've got it bad? The only two behaviours I'm going to have now are hungry or horny!" said Mirany. "I have a dick!"

The anger welling up inside me was at an unnecessary level. It probably had to do with the fact that I was now part wolf. I tried to calm myself. I may be Mirany, but I wasn't going to turn into her.

"Okay," I said. "Let's think about this for a moment. Did we do anything different?"

Mirany grinned the grin that I was so used to grinning.

"Oh yes," she said. "We most certainly did."

"Now I know why you get frustrated when I do stuff like that. It's frustrating," I said. "You know what I mean."

"No, we didn't do anything different," Mirany sighed, looking down at the floor in a confused way. "Have you always been this tall? I feel really tall. It's a long way to the floor from here. How do you not notice this?"

"Focus Mirany," I said impatiently. "So, that leaves us at some sort of spell. We need to talk to dad."

"What? No!" said Mirany. "Do you know how much fun he's going to have with this? He'll drive me mad."

"You're already mad," I said. "Come on. Get dressed and let's go."

Mirany and I immediately moved towards our own clothes before looking at each other and turning back towards each other's clothes.

"Too weird," Mirany muttered. "Way too weird. This is breaking all the laws of weirdness. This is not supposed to happen."

"Yeah, I think I got that part," I snapped.

"Okay, sorry," said Mirany, holding up my hands in surrender. "Don't bite your head off."

_This is not going to be a good day._

...

"We need your help," said Mirany as we walked into the hotel.

"Sure son, what's up?" asked Angel.

Mirany froze and shuddered, turning away from Angel to face me.

"I forgot. Being you means being related to him," she muttered to me. "Just kill me now."

"Connor?" asked Angel.

"Don't call me son," said Mirany.

"But I always call you son. You are my son after all," said dad slowly.

"No I'm not. He is," said Mirany, pointing at herself.

I could see this going downhill very quickly so I decided I'd step in.

"We've swapped bodies," I explained. "We woke up and we were inside each other and not in a good way."

Dad slowly started to crack a big grin.

"So...you two...are each other?" he asked.

"Yes," Mirany growled warningly.

"Excellent!" said Angel, then he reconsidered as we both glowered at him. "I mean...bad. Very...very bad. This must be solved at once. It's...absolutely terrible. I can't imagine anything worse."

"How did this happen?" asked Mirany.

It was just too weird hearing my voice come from someone else's mouth. It shouldn't have been possible.

"Uh...a spell or something," said Angel.

He looked like he was desperately trying to hold back a laugh.

"Just laugh and get it over with," I snapped.

Dad didn't hesitate and spent the next five minutes roaring his head off at the predicament.

"I don't know if it'll help us get back to normal, but we would both probably feel so much better if we beat him up," Mirany suggested to me.

"I'm liking that idea," I said.

"Okay, I'll stop...for the moment," said Angel, still grinning from ear to ear. "So, what are you going to do?"

"Reverse the spell," I said pointedly. "What did you think we were going to do? Discuss it over a cup of tea?"

"You make that sound like a bad thing Mirany," said Wesley, walking out of his office. "You are British, are you not?"

"Her body may be red coat, but as far as her mind goes, well, that's more Irish/American," said Angel.

Wesley looked confused. I wasn't surprised. I knew what was going on and I was confused.

"Hey!" said Mirany indignantly. "Don't call me a red coat."

"That's what you are, isn't it?" asked Angel.

"What's going on?" asked Wesley.

"They've swapped bodies," said dad. He couldn't look happier if he tried. "And they don't know how to switch themselves back."

Wesley looked at the pair of us.

"Is this some sort of joke?" he asked.

"NO!" Mirany and I both objected.

"Trust us, we are not amused," Mirany said, doing a perfect imitation of Queen Victoria.

"Do you honestly think that now is a good time to be making imitations?" I snapped. It didn't seem to take much to get me started. "We need to reverse this. Right now."

"Okay, don't bite my head off," said Mirany, holding my hands up in surrender. "Jeez, am I always like this?"

"Yes," said Angel and Wesley together.

"Maybe you should talk to Lilah," Wesley suggested.

We both swallowed.

"Lilah?" asked Mirany. "She would have a field day with this. She's probably the one that caused it in the first place."

"Well, if that's true, you're still going to have to see her to find out how to reverse it," Angel pointed out.

"We're not going to Lilah," I growled. "We do not need her interfering."

I was slowly becoming aware of the feeling of trepedation that was spreading through me as Lilah was talked about. This had never occured before. This was what Mirany felt when her sister was mentioned. It was that uncertainty of whether or not she would actually help or not. Whether she would make things worse.

"What about Dan?" I asked. "He might have his ear on something."

"I doubt it," said Mirany. "That's not really his sort of thing. He's more of a demon gang sort of informant."

"Well, then, you talk to Lilah," said Angel.

"And perhaps don't tell her that it was you two that have swapped," Wesley suggested. "Tell her that we have a couple of clients who have swapped bodies."

"Yeah, that'll work for all of two seconds," I muttered.

...

I could tell Mirany was getting sick of me. And sure, she had good reason. I was becoming more and more edgy and had snapped quite a few times driving back to her place. The moment we got there, she grabbed my wrist and pulled me through the mansion until we reached the room with her piano.

"Just sit here and calm down," she said, pushing me onto the piano stool. "I'll call Lilah...and make a sandwich."

I scowled as she left the room. Sitting here was not going to calm me down. I wanted ot go and kill something. Too bad it was the middle of the day. I sighed and looked down at the piano, hitting a couple of random keys. I paused, then turned to face the instrument. I had no idea what I was doing, but luckily, I didn't need to. Mirany's fingers found the keys without me having to experiment, and soon Mirany's body memory had kicked in, her fingers brushing the keys so lightly it was a small wonder how the piano could still make a sound as Mirany's body played a slow melody.

I was playing for maybe thirty seconds when my mind began to clear and I lost myself in the music. Mirany's body gave in completely the the rhythm and sound, relaxing just as effectively, if not better, than anything I had experienced before. The anger and constant vigilance that seemed to come straight from the wolf in Mirany disappeared. The pain of emotion, of love and loss, disappeared right with it, and all that was left was the music. I didn't hear Mirany come back into the room, and only noticed her when the melody had ended and I had come back to reality.

"Have fun?" asked Mirany.

...

"Some clients huh?" asked Lilah, giving us that look that said all too clearly that she didn't believe a word we were saying. "So the fact that you two are acting like each other is just coincidental?"

Mirany's shoulders slumped.

"You know, I used to be a good liar before I met you lot," she said to me.

"Don't blame me," I said. "I used to be sane before I met you."

"Ooh," said Lilah. "Mutiny within the ranks."

"Shut up," I snapped at her. "Can you help us or not?"

"I can try," said Lilah. "Certainly not guaranteeing anything. I haven't seen something like this in a long time."

"You're seeing it now," I said.

"Wow, you've turned from Connor to Mirany in the space of a few hours. How does it feel to be a bitch?" asked Lilah.

Mirany squeezed my hand tightly, warning me to take my own advice and shut up. Lilah was running a finger along the volumes of book behind her, completely ignoring my inner dilemma, muttering about spells and demons that would be capable of doing this.

"In most cases of this, you would have to find the perpetrator to reverse the spell," she said. "Each person or demon that performs a spell like this will do it in their own unique way, they would be the only ones with the power to break the spell. I'd say it would be the same in your case."

"Does that mean that we can't change back to the way we were until we find the person that did this to us?" asked Mirany.

"Ultimately, yes," said Lilah. "Then of course you have to make them reverse the spell."

"Knives generally do the trick," I said. "Why bother with pleasantries?"

"You really are turning into me," said Mirany, eyebrows raised, then she grinned. "I have tought you well, young grasshopper."

Lilah rolled her eyes and dropped a rather heavy looking book into Mirany's lap.

"If I have any information about this sort of stuff, it'll be in there," she said. "Knock yourself out."

"What? By reading or just by pure exhaustion of carrying this thing?" Mirany grunted. "It weighs a tonne."

"Good luck," said Lilah, opening the door pointedly. "And I wouldn't worry too much. If you don't reverse it, it'll probably wear off after a while...unless it was one of those powerful spells, and if it was...Oh well. Have fun."

She closed the door behind us without another word and we scowled at the wood panelling.

"Was it just me, or was she way too happy?" asked Mirany.

"It wasn't you," I said.

"What do you think she was going to say when she said it might have been a powerful spell?" asked Mirany.

"Lilah being Lilah, she was probably going to say that we'd end up killing each other or something," I said. "Maybe it's a good thing that we don't know what she was going to say."

...

"What? Not gonna wait to see if it just wears off?" asked Lilah, walking in to find me and Mirany trying to come up with a list of people who would want to do this. "But I haven't seen you two freak out yet."

"You should have been here when we woke up then," said Mirany. "Piss off."

She rubbed her leg against mine slightly. She could tell I was already pissed just at Lilah walking in without an invite and she was warning me to stay calm, not that she was doing a great job. Lilah was annoying. That was all I could say. She wasn't nearly as annoying to me usually, but Mirany's entire body seemed to tense just at Lilah's voice without me even thinking about it. It was as unconscious as breathing. So whether Mirany wanted to start warming up to Lilah or not, her body wasn't going to let her any time soon. I had felt the same sort of thing around dad. He must seriously piss her off and I had never noticed it before. Sure, I had noticed that she didn't like him. He didn't like her either, it was no secret, but I didn't realise that she thought of Angel basically the same way she thought of Lilah.

"Ooh, not very friendly. I see a different body hasn't changed you," said Lilah coolly.

I didn't know why, but this seemed to affect Mirany. She grew quiet and lent back against the chair, clearly thinking Lilah's statement through.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I need to use your computer," said Lilah.

"Why?" asked Mirany. "You've got more than enough computer power in your tower of demonic...people."

Lilah raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yeah, okay, that one got away from me," Mirany admitted. "But my point still stands. Why do you need my computer?"

"Because I'm actually planning on doing something legal," said Lilah. "And the firm wouldn't be all too pleased about it."

"Wow," I said, my voice heavy with sarcasm. "You? Doing something legal? Someone call Ripley's."

Lilah scowled at me.

"Call me if you two have another freak out," she said and stalked out of the room.

I smirked as I leant back in my chair.

"I think I could pull this off," I said. "Being you."

"Yeah well, don't get too bloody used to it," said Mirany. "Otherwise I'll never get you out of there."

"Oh no, I definitely don't want to stay here," I said fervently. "But you know, in the mean time, if I have to act like you, I reckon I could do it. It's not as hard as it looks, being grumpy and annoying."

"Well, I've got no chance of ever being able to act like you so let's just find some way to reverse this thing alright?" asked Mirany impatiently.

I sighed and ran through the list we had compiled.

"It could be any of these people," I sighed. "We don't have enough time or patience to get through them all."

"I thought you were the king of patience."

"I was until I became you," I muttered.

Mirany sighed and stood up.

"Drink?" she asked.

"Please," I said fervently.

While Mirany was getting the drinks, I saw a picture of her family on a shelf nearby. It wasn't as if I'd never seen it before. It had always been there and I had looked at it countless times, but when I glanced at it this time, I couldn't look away. I was overwhelmed by a sudden wave of grief and guilt. I was completely transfixed by this simple picture, which I had seen so many times before and never registered anything like this. I didn't even realise that I had gotten to my feet and picked up the frame.

Mirany came back in and paused when she saw me.

"Connor?" she asked.

I looked up at her, the photo shaking very slightly in my hand.

"You go through this every time?" I asked quietly.

Mirany came over to me and slowly prized the picture from my fingers, placing it back on the shelf.

"Yeah," she said.

"How do you stand it?" I asked.

"I don't," said Mirany.

I didn't understand, but I didn't think I ever would. I stood on my toes and reached up to kiss my own lips. It felt strange to do this from a different mouth, but I didn't care.

"Have I ever told you I'm sorry?" I asked when we parted.

Mirany looked confused.

"For what?" she asked.

"I'm sorry," I said, looking down at the picture again.

...

When I had fallen asleep, I had fallen asleep beside my own body, curled up under my own arm, trying to get into a position that didn't feel uncomfortable or painful in Mirany's chest. When I woke up, I was no longer curled up under my arm, because I wasn't shorter and curvier and wolfier and all over girlier, I was tall and flat and completely human and most definitely a guy.

_Back! Ha! Someone didn't do a good job of that spell. Lilah was right. We shouldn't have worried about it._

"If you're thinking that Lilah was right, you should take that back right know," said Mirany, surprising me. I hadn't realised she was awake. "She was not right. She never is right. She never will be right."

"One day you'll get over your sibling rivalry," I said.

Mirany snorted.

"Sibling rivalry," she muttered. "Right."

"Why is it really that you don't like her?" I asked. "Even your body doesn't like her. Yeah, yeah, I know she tried to kill you and left you and blah, blah, blah. I know all that. But that's not why you don't like her. Okay sure, it doesn't help, but that's not the real reason."

Mirany was silent and I peered over at her face. It was completely blank, staring at the wall.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said finally.

"Yes you do," I said. "Just like you were going to howl even when you said you weren't. Why don't you like her?"

"That's like asking why don't I like Angel," said Mirany. "There is no real reason, I just don't like them."

"Yes, I felt the same thing around dad so you obviously have a serious beef against the both of them. What is it?"

"Nothing," said Mirany. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about."

"That's a lie," I hissed in her ear and she flinched away from me slightly. "But I'll let it slide. Because I will find out Mirany."

Mirany rolled over and gave me a very challenging look.

"I dare you to," she said.

...

"So tell me, how was it being Mirany?" asked dad as I walked in.

"How can you possibly tell that we're normal again?" I asked. "I didn't even say anything."

"Because when Mirany was in you, you had that Mirany walk," said dad.

"What Mirany walk?" I asked.

"The walk that says you're Mirany," said Angel. "And when you were Mirany, you had the Connor walk. You walk differently and it shows. Mirany stomps every where. You just walk."

I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, whatever," I said.

"Ooh, has a bit of Mirany rubbed off on you?" asked dad.

"Look, you have no idea what it was like to be her. It was so hard to control my temper. That whole wolf thing was difficult to tame. I'm glad I wasn't her all the time. And did you know that she feels the same way towards you as she does towards Lilah?"

"She feels like I'm her sister?" asked Angel.

"No," I snapped. "But she hates you just as much."

"Never said we were best friends," dad muttered. "Why do you care?"

"Because I don't know why," I said simply. "And I want to know. So what have you done to her?"

"Uh...stopped her from killing people," said dad slowly.

I scowled at him.

"You know what I mean."

"That's the only big thing I've done to her," said Angel. "Although I suppose we did have that fight a while ago, but still..."

"That doesn't help," I muttered.

"Have you thought maybe there's a good reason for her not to tell you?" asked dad. "Maybe it's better off left alone?"

"Why don't you just say that you think I'm being stupid?" I snapped.

"Okay then, I think you're being stupid," said dad simply. "You're overreacting and Mirany can handle herself. If she hates me and Lilah, she's got a good reason, and that reason is good enough not to tell you. I would advise you to leave this alone. If she doesn't want to tell you, you shouldn't push her. You now know exactly what she's like. Pushing her is really not a good idea."

"But..."

"Connor, I've given you my opinion," said dad, cutting me off. "Just think about it before you do anything rash."

"You think she'll...what? Kill me?" I asked.

"Likely," dad muttered.

I scowled at him.

"I don't know Connor, but if she hasn't told you she won't like it if you poke around," he said. "You still remember that she was ready to kill you when she found out that you were keeping the disease thing from her right?"

"And you think that she'll be ready to kill me again?" I asked.

"Oh no, my bet's on her feeding you alive to hampsters," said dad.

"Well, your bet has now been placed. When I come out of this alive, I want that car," I said, pointing at his car out the window.

"You wish," said dad. "Connor, I'm serious. Drop this one. Even _I_ wouldn't dig into this until she mentions it."

I considered this. He was right, she probably would do something much worse than just kill me if I did something like this again. I sighed and sat down.

"Alright," I said. "I'll leave it. For now...no I won't. I'll just be surrupticious."

Dad rolled his eyes.

"Good luck with that."

...

"Connor...what are you doing?" asked Mirany.

I blinked innocently.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said.

"Okay, don't use my lines," said Mirany. "Because when you do, I can tell exactly when you're lying, seeing as most of my lines are lies."

"Oh thank you," I said sarcastically. "That makes me feel so warm inside, knowing that most of the things you say to me are lies."

"They are when you're trying to get information out of me," said Mirany. "Did you honestly believe that I wouldn't notice?"

"...I had hoped," I said.

"Connor, you know I can kill you with a click of my finger right?" asked Mirany.

I swallowed.

"So it's very lucky for you that your grip on my fingers is so tight that I probably won't be able to feel them for a month," said Mirany. "But honestly, sometimes you are just as bad as your dad. Stop poking around Connor. I know you want to know why I'm so pissed off and Lilah and Angel but you won't ever find out if you just keep trying to push for answers. I'll tell you when the time is right."

"And when might that be? I want to pencil it into my calendar if I can," I said.

Mirany rolled her eyes.

"I'll let ya know," she said. "Now will you please let go?"

"Yeah sure," I said. "I'll stop poking around."

"No, I mean, will you let go? Of my hands?" Mirany requested.

"Will you click?" I asked nervously.

"Connor, let go."

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Again, sorry for the delay. With any luck I'll have another one up shortly, assuming there's no more writer's block :) So yeah, review and I'll keep on posting :)**


	20. School's Out

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**If you remember the first chapter, which I don't blame you if you don't, you'll remember some of the characters that are mentioned in this one again. If you don't remember them, just take a quick look back at the first part of the first chapter. If you do, well done, maybe you should write this instead because even I had to take a quick look back :P I'll keep using them from now on, just because I can :P ****Enjoy again and don't forget to review :)**

* * *

_**"I never let school interfere with my education." - Mark Twain**_

* * *

"I thought you left this job," said Angel, his head appearing upside down under the car.

I swore to myself and rolled out to stare up at him. He looked much taller from the ground.

"Well, I came back, what's it to you?" I snapped, getting to my feet and snatching my tools off the ground. "And how did you know to find me here if you thought I had quit?"

"Your manager called me over. Nothing to do with you, some demon thing, but I saw you and decided to investigate," said Angel. "Why did you come back? I thought we got over the loneliness stage when we got over the killing stage."

"Because I missed Mike's sparkling personality," I said sarcastically. "Again I ask, what's it to you?"

"Does Connor know about this? Because if he does, I'm going to need to get him to keep me in the loop better," said Angel.

"I don't know if Connor knows this. I would assume he would otherwise he would be calling constantly to find out why I'm not at home," I said pointedly. "And speaking of Connor and what he might or might not know, does he know you've been getting it on with my sister?"

Angel mouthed at me for a few seconds before finally finding his voice box again.

"How did you find out?" he asked, slightly panicy.

"Oh please, it doesn't take a genius," I said, "to bribe Cordelia with the prospect of finding me some, and I quote, 'clothes that don't look like they came from Angel's wardrobe.' She actually had the nerve to suggest that I dress like you. We don't dress anything alike."

As I bent over the bonnet of the car, I saw him glance down at his jeans and red button down shirt, then at my jeans and red button down shirt. Damn the one time I wear something that's basically exactly what he's wearing.

"Don't say a word," I warned him.

Angel held up his hands in surrender as I returned to the engine.

"You know, bribery is the lowest form of corruption," he said.

"Oh please," I scoffed. "At least half, no, at least three quarters of the political population would be broke without the help of bribery. At least. There could be more. There probably is."

"Well, at least now I know why, up to now, you weren't speaking to me," Angel muttered.

"She's my sister Angel," I snapped. "And if, for some unknown and vey wacked out reason, you happen to get married, I'd be your...your sister-in-law! And I'd be Connor's aunt! I'd be his aunt! That's just not right and you have no right to do it!"

"Actually, I believe if you read the charter of human rights it doesn't actually mention that I don't have the right to have sex with your sister."

At this I covered my ears with my hands and hummed loudly, still bending over the engine, studying it very closely, determined to memorise every speck of dirt off by heart rather than continue with this conversation.

"Oh come on Mirany, it's not that big a deal," said Angel, annoyed. "I can assure you I will not be marrying you sister in the near future. Or the far future because I won't be marrying her at all. It's just a casual...sexual relationship."

"La, la, la! I can't hear you!" I said loudly.

"If you can't hear me then how did you know I was talking?" asked Angel pointedly.

I frowned at the car as I released my ears.

"Alright, you have a point," I muttered. "But it's still wrong!"

"Is this why you hate me and Lilah so much, because if it is, you have to tell Connor. He really wants to know and there's no way in hell that I'm gonna tell him," said Angel.

"This and the fact that you're both alive contributes," I said coolly.

"Oh I _am_ sorry, however will I make it up to you?" Angel asked sarcastically, leaning against the car frame.

"Well, for one thing, you can get off my wax job before I wax you," I threatened, "and for another, you can STOP SLEEPING WITH MY SISTER!"

"If I had known that this was going to bother you so much, I would have started sooner," said Angel, getting off the car all the same.

"Angel I swear you are about two seconds away from finding out just how much it bothers me," I hissed.

"Sorry. I'll leave you to it. But once you're done here, you can come back to the hotel and we can have a jolly ol' cha' abou' why you're back 'ere an' wha' bothers you so much abou' me shaggin' your sister," said Angel, doing a very bad impression of what I assumed he meant to be my accent.

"Don't ever try to imitate me again, and don't even think about ever saying shag again!" I called after him as he walked away.

"Someone gonna shag you?" asked Josh, walking into the garage.

"I wish," I muttered, getting back down on the ground and sliding under the car again. "No, I'm afraid that's going to have to wait until later for me."

"Who was that then?" asked David, follwoing Josh in.

"An old...acquaintance," I said. I couldn't bring myself to call Angel a friend.

"So...is anybody shagging anyone?" asked Josh, sounding slightly disappointed.

"Do you mind getting your head out of the gutter and passing me a screwdriver?" I asked, poking my head out to scowl at him.

"Sorry," Josh muttered.

"That was quite a holiday you took," said David. "Where'd you go?"

"All over," I lied. Well, it wasn't really a lie. I had been all over, just not in the past year or so.

"You went back to England I notice," said Josh as he passed me my tools. "Accent's nice and strong again. Do you want a cuppa tea as well?"

"You are the second person that has made fun of my accent and my patience is not going to last much longer," I said.

"Sorry," Josh said again.

"How many times do you reckon I can get him to say that?" I asked David.

"Oh, I wager a fair few more," he said.

"Thank you," said Josh sarcastically.

"Okay, ladies, if you'll excuse me, my shift ended twenty minutes ago," I said. Yeah, I was lying and my shift didn't end for another hour, but Mike knew _I_ paid _his_ wages, so he didn't really complain. "I have a councelling session to attend unfortunately."

"Oh, you're getting councelling?" asked David curiously. "For what?"

"Killing people," I said conversationally, getting to my feet.

"You know, if you didn't want to tell us all you had to do was say so," said Josh.

I shrugged at him and climbed onto my Harley.

"Is there anything else before I depart?" I asked.

"Well now that you mention it..." started Josh.

"No," I said immediately.

"I hadn't even asked!" said Josh indignantly.

"You're a guy, it's not hard to figure out what you're going to say."

"And I'll tell you how she knew that later," said David, grinning at Josh.

"Goodbye," I said, rolling my eyes as I drove away.

...

"Ah good, you're here," said Angel.

"No, actually I'm in Hawaii," I said sarcastically. "Of course I'm here. Where else would I be? You know all my hiding places. I can't escape from you anymore. I used to be so good at it too."

"Oh wow, Mirany's here," said Cordelia. "I thought you'd decided this place was too shabby for you to ever set foot in again. Not to mention that I didn't think this was really your style."

"I had and it's not my style," I said. "But unfortunately, this is where you all seem to live."

"Oh, I didn't realise Mirany was going to help as well," said Wesley, coming out of his office with Connor in tow.

"Yeah, are you sure it's the best idea?" asked Connor.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "I came here because he told me to come here."

I gestured at Angel and he bit his lip.

"What?" I asked. "What did I just sign up for?"

"You didn't tell her?" asked Connor. "Oh boy. Wait! Don't kill him yet. I need to get some popcorn."

"I need to...get something...from...Australia," said Angel, moving towards his office.

"FREEZE!" I yelled and everyone stayed right where they were. "What's going on?"

Angel swallowed.

"Well, your boss was telling me about his problem and I said we'd help," he said.

"And what's his problem? Besides being a pain in the ass," I said.

"Some kids at his son's school have gone missing and he was worried," said Angel casually. "You know, probably demons looking for an easy meal or something and so I agreed to help."

"And what does helping involve?" I asked, dreading the answer that I knew was going to come.

"You getting us into the school," said Connor.

"Keep going," I growled.

"And sending the prinicpal on a non-negotiable cruise," said Cordelia.

"Continue," I said.

"And getting Angel to take his place," said Wesley.

"And there's more?" I prompted.

"And you and Connor being student teachers," said Angel quickly, as though I might miss it if he said it faster.

Cordelia, Wesley and Connor all watched me eagerly, waiting for my reaction, while Angel held his breath. I took a moment to stew over this then...

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND?" I screamed.

Angel flinched and Connor laid a hand on my waist.

"Okay, as much as I want to be torn apart," said Angel, "there's kids out there that are probably about to be eaten. So do you think you could put aside your hate for kids for a fortnight? Just one fortnight."

"A FORTNIGHT? YOU ARE OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND! I CAN'T DEAL WITH THOSE LITTLE...PRAWNS FOR A FORTNIGHT!"

"I think they call them children these days," Connor chuckled.

"Are you roping me into this because I didn't tell you I was working at the car yard again so you go and decide to find me a different job, or because you already know I'm going to kill you so you decided to just throw caution to wind?" I asked.

"I'm roping you into this because there are innocent lives at stake," said Angel.

"Why were you going to kill him before this?" asked Connor.

I look from him to Angel as a very evil plan slowly formed in my head, and a matching smile appeared on my face.

"That won't work Mirany, I don't care now that you know anyway," said Angel.

_There goes my plan._

"Come on Mirany, it'll be fun," said Connor. "Kids aren't that bad."

"Alright, fine," I hissed. "I'll get your stupid ass into the stupid school, I'll send the stupid principal on a stupid cruise, and I'll be stupidly nice to stupid kids."

"Don't talk to my stupid father like that," said Connor, grinning from ear to ear at my outrage at Angel.

Angel rolled his eyes.

"You do know what they're teaching kids in school at the moment right?" asked Wesley.

"Of course I know. They're learning the alphabet and stuff," I said.

"Do _you_ know the alphabet and stuff?" asked Cordelia and I glared at her. "Just checking."

...

"Why the hell are you with him? He's a bastard. Not to mention the whole vampire thing," I said.

"Because he's a sex god," said Lilah.

I snorted.

"Sure, and Connor's the King of Denmark. Grow up."

"You asked me a question, I gave you an answer. Where are you anyway? You're not in your usual technological setting," said Lilah.

I sighed heavily.

"I'm at grade school," I said resentfully. "Trying not to relapse back into a killing spree."

"Mirany, I knew you were stupid but I didn't think you were _that_ stupid," said Lilah.

"Hey! That's not why I'm here, although at the moment I kinda wish it was. Do you have any idea how hard it is to deal with smelly, screaming midgets all day? And I am _not_ stupid!"

"Sounds like you're really enjoying it," said Lilah, smirking. "So why are you at grade school then?"

"I'm currently here with Connor and your vampire, trying to find a good explanation for why kids are going missing, but if I stay here much longer I swear I'll create an explanation. They're worse than...they're not worse than anything actually, because they are the worst things on earth."

"Oh it can't be that bad," said Lilah carelessly.

"You wanna swap? Because I'm happy to do so. You know what? I would join Wolfram and Hart if it got me out of here, but Angel would probably punish me for joining by making sure I got a full time job here. Just when I was getting back into the swing of working at the car yard and he goes along and makes me take more time off. I mean sure, my boss doesn't care because I'm sorting out the problem at his son's school but still. I blame you for not distracting him enough. And I'll get to the grossness which is you two together another time. Right now I'm too busy trying to fend off rats."

I felt a tug on my sleeve and I looked away from the computer screen to glower at a tiny boy with about ten equally tiny friends standing around him. If I could get any worse with children, this school was going to make it happen.

"What?" I hissed.

"Do you wanna hear a joke Miss?" he asked in his tiny little unbroken voice.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Jonathan," said the boy. "Do you wanna hear the joke?"

"Well Jackson, let me teach you a little something about myself. If it comes from someone younger than me, I'm not gonna enjoy it. Clear off!"

The boys all scampered away without another word and I returned to Lilah.

"You see what I have to deal with? They're impossible. They're just chipping, and chipping, and chipping away at my sanity."

"What sanity?" asked Lilah, frowning at me.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked, ignoring her slight on me.

"He only wanted to tell you a joke," she said disapprovingly. "I mean sure, it probably wasn't going to be funny, but it wouldn't have killed you to listen."

"We can't know that," I said hollowly.

"And his name was Jonathan not Jackson," said Lilah.

"So?" I asked, looking around the yard to make sure no more grommits were coming my way. "What's wrong with that?"

"Well, instead of scarring them for life with insinuations of your sexual preferences, you could have listened and taken in his name," said Lilah. "Kids don't like it when you don't even know their names. And they get upset if you just blow them off."

"Oh yeah, because you're a real expert on dealing with children," I said sarcastically. "I should definitely listen to all your suggestions on how _I_ should deal with them."

"I played you for fourteen years, didn't I?" Lilah pointed out.

"Yes, do let's remind me of that every chance you get," I said coolly.

"Mirany, it's not difficult to deal with children, particularly grade schoolers. All you have to do is feign interest and be nice, and as challenging as that might be for you, I'm sure if you just gave it a shot, you could pull it off."

I scowled.

"Fine, whatever, I have to go and...do things," I lied, closing the computer and leaning into the shadows, determined to make myself invisible.

"It won't work," said Angel knowingly. "Kids can see you wherever you are."

"It's a sunny day today and I am not in a good mood," I warned. "Don't push me or I'll push you. We can have some bloody fireworks to make this day even more exciting."

"Talking to Lilah?"

"Yeah, and yeah, we talked about you, and no, you don't get to hear what she said," I said. "I was hoping for moral support when I told her that I was here with you lot but all she gave me was rubbish advice on how to deal with kids. She seemed disapproving for some reason."

"Maybe because you almost strangled that boy," said Angel. "They're not that bad Mirany and it wouldn't hurt you to be nice."

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"You cannot say that. Your job is to sign papers and yell at them. That is my dream job. The signing paper not so much but I suppose it's a package deal. And speaking of package deals, I'd much rather be on the cruise that the principal is on which I'm paying for. I could be on the deck of one of the best cruise ships in the world getting severely burnt but enjoying every minute of it anyway and instead I'm here, so don't tell me that they're not that bad because I really don't want to hear it."

"I'm guessing the student-teacher thing isn't working so great then," said Angel, smirking.

"You had better enjoy this moment fang-face because it won't last long," I hissed. "The moment I won't scar every single mind in this school you are going to regret ever finding any humour in this situation."

"Ooh, I'm so scared," said Angel sarcastically. "You know what, I bet you that in two weeks you won't be able to list off all the names of the kids in your class."

"What are you betting?" I asked, trying to decide whether or not to bother.

"Two weeks without any contact from me," said Angel.

I looked at him curiously.

"Really?" I asked.

Angel nodded.

"Deal," I said.

I knew it was a stupid bet to take. Like I would ever remember all their names. But on the off-chance I did, I would have two weeks of bliss.

"Good luck," said Angel, smirking as he walked away.

I poked my tongue out after him and sank back into my world of shadows.

"You know you'll lose right?" asked Connor, appearing beside my hiding place.

"Yeah," I said. "But there's always a small chance I'll care enough to try."

"Memorising the roll call won't be enough. He'll want pictures and names matched together."

"Then there's no way in hell I'll win."

"You should think about maybe trying to get to know them," said Connor sincerely.

Another tiny person ran up as I scoffed.

"Connor!" she wailed, holding her hand. "I hurt my hand!"

"Oh dear god, you must be damaged for life," I muttered.

Connor scowled at me and squatted down in front of her.

"Let me take a look Rachel," he said. "It's just a little scratch. It's not even bleeding. You'll be fine. Just run it under some water and you'll be good as new."

"Oh sure, rub my face in it why don't you?" I snapped as the girl ran away.

"But you see how it works right? You be nice to them, you listen to them and you help them and they won't annoy you. Remembering them doesn't hurt either."

"Lilah just told me to feign interest, not actually listen to them."

"And you wonder why you two don't get along," said Connor.

"I don't wonder that. I don't care," I informed him. "Look, I've never been good with kids. What makes you think that just because I'm surrounded by them I'll get better at it?"

"Because you're you and if you actually put your mind to it, you can do pretty much anything," said Connor.

I sighed.

"This is going to be a long few weeks."

...

"Mirany, you can take care of the class right? I need to go and...thanks."

Before I could object, Steve had left the room faster than the grommits did at the end of the day, and I was left looking down at a bunch of nine year olds, wishing that this nightmare would hurry up and end. I was ready to wake up now. Why wasn't I waking up? Oh right, because the bloody nightmare was reality. God, I was going to kill Angel, slowly and painfully.

"Uh...so...who knows what we're doing?" I asked.

"We're learning how to read clocks," said a voice from near my feet.

"Great. Well done to you. Good luck with it."

"No. _You_ have to show us," said another voice.

"Or what?" I asked. "You'll cut off my thumbs? You're kids. You'll never need analog anyway."

"But we don't know how to do it," said the same voice.

"Yeah well, you won't learn _that_ for a long time," I said. Man, Connor's mind must have rubbed off on me. I was becoming amazingly horny.

Twenty-two sets of eyes stared up at me. I sighed.

"Alright then. Clocks."

I stood in front of the white board, no, sorry, 'texta board', and tapped the marker against it. Why it was so bigotry to call it a white board was beyond me. It was white after all. Just like black boards are black. But no, they're supposed to be called 'texta boards' and 'chalk boards.' As much as I was completely open to coloured people, I mean, I practically run the largest activist groups, this was just ridiculous. And where exactly was I supposed to start when I was trying to teach about clocks? What did they even need it for? This is precisely what digital is for.

"You have to draw stuff," said Connor from the doorway.

"Hi Connor!" the class chorused.

"Oh yes, whoop-di-do," I muttered, struggling to control myself from writing curses all over the board.

"Do you need help making your hands work?" asked Connor.

"You know what? All of you go and sit at your desks and write about what you'd rather be doing right now," I snapped. "I know I'd rather be sitting on a cruise ship."

The kids all hurried to their desks and began to write.

"What are you doing here? Where's your class?" I asked Connor.

"Gym," he said, brushing my fringe out of my eyes. "And I think your teacher and my teacher are hooking up in the lounge. Do you want me to do it?"

"Sure," I said. "But we'd probably scar the kids..."

Connor rolled his eyes.

"You know what I mean. What are you doing?"

"Clocks," I said with forced enthusiasm. "Riveting stuff really."

"Mirany, grade school's not supposed to be interesting, it's supposed to be educational," said Connor.

"Who needs an education?" I scoffed. "You never went to school. I never went to school. We turned out alright."

"That's debateable. You've gone completely insane and I would assume that if you had gone to school, it might not be so bad. Anyway, not all kids grow up with Watchers," Connor pointed out.

"Why does everybody keep saying I'm insane?" I asked angrily.

"Because you are?" Connor tried.

"There's no need for school," I said adamantly. "If kids want to learn how to read analog clocks, they will. If they don't, trying to force them isn't going to work. Who needs analog these days anyway? If a watch isn't digital and doesn't have fifty different functions, it won't be worn by this generation, I can guarantee you that."

"Needed or not, they still have to teach it. Mirany, can we have the annoyed rant later?" asked Connor pointedly. "Just live with the fact that kids still need to be shown this stuff and move on."

I scowled.

"Fine, but I'm not ready to teach yet."

"Why not?" asked Connor.

"Because I have a hangover and I don't care," I said simply. "You teach, I'll sleep."

"I hope none of these kids choose you for a role model."

"They better not. Then they'd just hang on me even more," I muttered.

"Miss? Miss?"

"What?" I snarled.

"Mirany, calm down," said Connor.

"What do we do once we're done Miss?"

"They keep calling me Miss," I hissed to Connor. "It's driving me insane. Why do they know your name but not mine?"

"As we've already established, you're already insane, and maybe they remember my name because I'm nice to them," said Connor. "Once you're done just sit on the floor and I'll teach you about clocks. Why do you have a hangover?"

"Well Connor, when grown ups drink some types of drinks and have too many of these types of drinks, when they wake up they get headaches and feel sick," I said in my best teacher voice.

Connor scowled at me.

"I needed to drown my sorrows," I said. "What can I say? I don't wanna be here."

"You are unbelievable," said Connor, heading towards the door. "And as punishment you're going to teach them yourself."

"But my head's already punishing me," I complained.

Connor smirked at me and left the room, and I was once again surrounded by ankle biters.

"None of you would happen to know if a demon lives in this school, would you?" I asked dully.

...

"Well, I like what you've done with the place. A couple of throw pillows, a dash of paint, a few more bones and I'd call it home," I said sarcastically from the mouth of the cave.

The demon growled as it turned around. God it was ugly. It was sort of a cross between a dog and a stick insect. It had huge bug eyes, some sort of snout, and tail and six very creepy legs.

"I just have one question," said Mirany. "Why were you so hard to find? I could ahve been out of that school a week ago if you weren't quite so surrupticious. Did someone tip you off? I told Lilah not to tell anyone."

"Who are you?" the demon asked in a gravelly voice. "I'm trying to have dinner here."

"You don't know who I am?" I asked with mock outrage. "I'm insulted. I was supposed to have a reputation with your type."

"My type?" the demon growled.

"Demons," I said conversationally. "Vampires, werewolves, anything I can _slay._"

The demon grinned, it's pointed teeth stained with blood.

"Slayer," he said.

"Well, my real name's Mirany, but if you wanna call me Slayer, I suppose I can deal," I said. "I would advise you to let the kids go. As much as they annoy me, I would rather not let them witness this."

"Oh, don't worry Slayer, they're all...asleep," said the demon.

"I'm hoping that you mean unconscious rather than dead, because I do not need my boss to rag on me for letting his kid get killed," I said. "Well, if you're not going to let them go, there's no more reason for me to play nice."

I drew my sword and swung at the beast but it was wicked fast and was behind me before I could react. My momentum sent me into the wall, and then one of it's larms had grabbed the back of my neck. I struggled against it, but for something with such skinny legs, it was remarkably strong. I felt the tip of what felt like a claw pressing against my skin.

"This will only hurt for a moment," the demon hissed in my ear.

I tried to swing at it again but before I hit anything, the claw had stuck into my neck and I began to feel woozy. A moment later everything was black.

...

When I had refused help from Connor or Angel to kill the demon, I had done it because I had thought I could manage it. Particularly in my state at the time. I had been so pissed off at the grade schoolers all week and I was more than ready to kill something. So I had gone off to the demon lair by myself. As I woke up, I realised that was not a smart idea.

I was still in the cave, lying on the floor with my hands and feet tied, but I was in a different section of the lair. I hadn't seen this when I had first arrived, but I was in a small cavern off to the side of the main 'room,' lying with three small children I recognised vaguely from the school grounds. I could hear the demon scuttling around, probably deciding how best to cook me or something. This was not exactly the brave, heroic way I had planned to go if I didn't live to one hundred. My imagined way to die was one of those 'save the world' sort of moments, not a 'tied up and helpless' moment. And that was basically what I was. I couldn't move even if I hadn't been tied up. Whatever the demon had put into me when that claw had stuck me, it had quite a good paralyzing agent in it. I couldn't move a muscle, and had to settle for my range of sight in this position.

I saw the demon's feet at the entrance to the cavern.

"Ah Slayer, awake at last. Did you know that you sleep like a log?"

I wanted to snap at it, but my mouth wasn't working any better than the rest of me.

"You know, you have been quite problematic," said the demon. "I've been considering moving. If you can find me, I'm sure someone else can. But I get such a good flow of food here. And I haven't figured out quite how to get rid of you yet. I want it to be painful. Something I can boast about. You do seem to have quite a name on the street. Couple of my acquaintances have said you're like a machine once you get started. We can't have that just lying around the house, now can we?"

All I could do was believe that he could see my glare.

_Someone else does know where you are, and they will come for me sooner or later. Hopefully sooner rather than later._

The demon's head appeared in front of me and it beared it's disturbing teeth at me.

"Paralyzer still working then? Good, good. Wouldn't want you to make any more trouble for yourself."

This had to be the millionth time I had been kidnapped or tied up against my will and I wasn't enjoying it any more than the first time. The good part was that even as the demon said this, I was starting to get the feeling back in my muscles. I didn't show it, but I was suddenly perfectly capable of snapping back at him.

"So Slayer, how would you like to die? Diced or bitten to death?"

The ropes were a bit of a problem. They weren't giving way to my very subtle attempts at breaking them and I had nothing to cut them with. They were too far down my wrists for me to untie them and I sure as hell wasn't going to lose my element of surprise to get them off. I'd have to wait until he took them off, however long that would take.

_Okay Connor, now would be a good time to start playing the hero._

"I think diced," said the demon thoughtfully. "I can start with the fingers and toes and work up from there."

This dude was seriously disturbing. He probably wouldn't have been quite so threatening if he wasn't talking about cutting me up into little pieces until I was dead, but I wouldn't have bet on it. His whole persona was just creepy.

"Alright, dicing it is," said the demon. "Well, I can't do it in here. Let's get you back into the living room."

I suppressed a shudder as he picked me up with his gross, skinny little arms and took me out into the main cave, dropping me painfully on the stone floor.

"I'll untie you, don't want to make this seem too well planned. I want to tell the story as truthfully as possible. You were attacking me and I got your sword off you and just began to chop away. You couldn't do anything to stop me, I was just too powerful. Not a lie exactly, just no tthe whole truth."

I controlled myself. I couldn't blow this. He already had the sword in one of his many hands as he untied the ropes around my wrists and ankles. I couldn't afford to slip up, otherwise I would end up as mince meat. I was very, very glad I had regained the use of my muscles when I had.

"Any last words?" the demon chortled as the ropes around my ankles fell away.

"Well, now that you mention it," I said, kicking it hard in the face. "Get stuffed."

It staggered back in surprise and I wasted no time in scrambling to my feet and diving at my sword. The struggle that followed was not great. I got bitten a couple of times by the demon and as far as I could tell, that was a lot worse than I had assumed it would be. Either there was some sort of poison in it's teeth, or the teeth were just so nasty that they caused almost blinding pain, but either way, after four bites from the thing, I wasn't feeling all too happy with the way things were going. I had grabbed my sword though, and was trying to find an opening where I could stab it, but so far, what with it's amazingly fast reflexes and my very, very painful injuries, it wasn't going too well either.

I stabbed wildly at it again, but it was gone in a flash and reappeared to my left. I slashed and heard the yell of pain, taking that as a good sign. When it came to a stop again, I saw that I had somehow managed to get it in the chest.

"Lucky I have more than one heart," it muttered.

But as I listened, I couldn't hear another heartbeat, and as I watched, it seemed to be moving slower and slower. If it had another heart, it was very, very good at hiding itself. I swung at the demon again and, another heart or not, that was the end of it.

"Alright you big ugly...something, let her go or...Mirany."

Connor had appeared in the doorway, sword at the ready.

"Where were you when it was trying to dice me up?" I snapped.

"Uh...you've only been gone a couple of hours," said Connor. "Dad told me not to even bother coming for another hour or so but I couldn't help it."

"Okay, well you tell your dad..." I started before staggering.

Connor grabbed hold of me and I steadied myself on him.

"You need to lie down. Get those bites looked at," he said worriedly.

"The kids..." I started.

"Dad will get them," said Connor. "He's just above us. Thought it was a stupid idea but I made him come along anyway."

"Well, tell him he's a...bastard," I mumbled before I fainted.

...

I woke up some time later with an aching where my bites used to be, but no visible signs of trauma. Taking that as a good sign, I tested my legs before standing up properly and leaving the room. Connor was waiting outside.

"You're awake," he sighed. "Thank god. You've been asleep for ages."

"Apparently I sleep like a log," I commented, sitting down beside him.

"Are you feeling okay?" Connor asked, brushing my hair out of my eyes.

"I'm certainly feeling better than I was when I was about to become mashed potato, demon style," I said.

"I'll take that as a good," said Connor.

"Are we kid free yet?" I asked.

"You certainly are," said Connor firmly. "Whether me and dad are is a little fuzzy. Apparently dad was so good at the job, the principal called and asked him to take over so that he could go into an early retirement. He quite likes cruise ships I'm told."

"As long as I'm not paying for him, good for him," I said. "Why wouldn't you be kid free though?"

"Well, I'm hoping that if for some weird reason dad actually did take the job, he wouldn't need moral support within the school. A week or two around kids I can deal with, but the rest of my life? Not so much."

"Speaking of your dad," I said, "I didn't tell you why I was going to kill him, did I?"

"No," said Connor slowly.

"Have a guess," I said.

"He...made you patrol too often?" asked Connor. "I don't know."

"Well, funny thing. He and Lilah are having, in his words, 'a casual sexual relationship.'"

Connor blinked.

"What?"


	21. Untitled

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**It has recently come to my attention that as far as Wesley and Cordelia are concerned, they only seem to make very small appearances in my episodes so I thought it would be appropriate to base this one a little more around Cordelia. I'll do a Wesley orientated one soon too, I promise. Don't forget to review :)  
Hope you enjoy **

* * *

_**" A sudden bold and unexpected question doth many times surprise a man and lay him open." - Francis Bacon**_

* * *

"Why are you here again?" I asked, peering around the corner of the warehouse.

"Because I want to be and I'm good with a crossbow," said Cordelia firmly. "You don't have to get near them to kill them and therefore I don't have to get involved in the whole fist fighting thing. It really destroys my nails. And you get such ugly scars on your knuckles."

I rolled my eyes and moved towards the door.

"And why again are we attacking them at night when we could do it tomorrow morning and catch them by surprise?" asked Cordelia.

"Because Fang Face wouldn't be able to come with us," I muttered, brushing my title for Angel aside like a fly. "Like I need his help."

"You do know there are thirty odd vampires in there right?" asked Cordelia.

I turned to glare at her.

"I could take all of these bastards by myself with my eyes closed and my hands tied behind my back," I said coolly.

"And how exactly would you do that?" asked Cordelia.

"With great skill," I said. I actually had no clue, but like I was ever going to admit that.

"You don't know, do you?" asked Cordelia.

"Not a clue," I said simply. "Now, shush. The grown ups are working."

"What grown ups?" asked Cordelia, looking around in genuine curiosity.

"Do you know just how annoying you are?" I asked her.

"I have a fairly good idea," said Cordelia.

"Alright, whatever. Now seriously. Shut up, so that we can go in there with a small element of surprise and kill them all," I said.

"Yes ma'am," Cordelia muttered.

I eased the door open, my grip tightening on the hilt of my sword and peered into the darkness, gesturing for Cordelia to follow on the finger count of three. I couldn't see any movement in there, but I could just make out figures in the room and Angel's eye on the other side of the warehouse. One. More figures were moving around now, and as my eyes adjusted, I made out a few figures on the floor in the corner, looking fairly limp. Two. Damn. I'd been spied. Three!

Cordelia and I rushed into the warehouse as Angel, Connor and Wesley ran in from the other side. There was a lot of yelling and fighting and grunting, none of which I got to experience. Before I could start attacking, Angel had gestured for me and Connor to get the people in the corner.

"Having fun?" asked Connor as we picked up a person each.

"Next time someone else gets Cordelia," I said.

"I'll make sure to inform dad of it," said Connor before pulling the limp people from the warehouse.

I followed, but we didn't have time for any more talking, because there were more outside. I left Connor to the three and ran back to help the others. Damn vampires and the dark. Why couldn't they burn up under moonlight or something. It was near impossible to see in the place, even with the doors wide open. I think, for the first time ever, I was getting hit about ten times more than I was hitting them.

"Where's Cordelia?" asked Angel, hitting a vampire in the forehead with the hilt of his sword, saving me from being bitten.

"How should I know?" I asked.

"Mirany!"

"Alright, alright. I'll look," I muttered, dodging a roundhouse kick and heading towards the walls, trying to find somewhere she could have gone without going back outside.

Between vampires and my disability to see in the dark, despite my once useful wolfy eyesight, I wasn't getting very far in the searching, but after a couple of minutes and a couple of vampires, I found a door ajar and slipped inside. I had only gotten a foot or two into the room when the door slammed behind me and I heard a definite deadlock click.

"Ah, bloody hell," I muttered, ramming my shoulder into the door and achieving nothing but a sore, possibly fractured shoulder.

"Mirany?" asked Cordelia.

"Damn you," I growled. "I go to look for you and now I'm stuck with you."

"What do you mean stuck?" asked Cordelia. "I didn't close the door."

"Well neither did I," I replied.

"Well then who did?" asked Cordelia pointedly.

"I don't know! Not me!" I said indignantly.

"Well get us out!" said Cordelia.

"Well, funny thing, I can't break down steel," I said, glaring into the blackness where I thought Cordelia might be. "I know, weird right?"

"Okay, fine. If we're going to be stuck here for a while, we need to find a light," said Cordelia.

"I've got a light, but as far as cigarettes go, I'm kinda short, seeing as I don't smoke," I said.

"Not that sort of light," said Cordelia frustratedly. "And why would you have a lighter if you don't smoke?"

"Because I'm a pyromaniac, does it matter at the moment?" I snapped.

"Well, until we can find a light switch, it could be useful. Get it out," said Cordelia.

"Yes ma'am," I said coolly, rummaging in my pockets to find the little metal box.

Even just the lighter made a huge difference to the light in the room and I could see Cordelia's face silhouetted against the flame.

"Right, give it to me and I'll look for a light switch," she said.

"Hell no I'm not trusting you with my flame," I said firmly. "You might put it out."

Cordelia scowled at me.

"You're not getting my lighter, no matter how ugly you make your face look," I said.

Cordelia looked like she was seriously trying to hold back a retort.

"Alright then, you look for a light," she said.

I looked up at the ceiling.

"There's one," I said, pointing up at the light bulb hanging from the steel.

"Great," said Cordelia sarcastically. "Now why don't you figure out HOW TO TURN IT ON!"

"You know, I understand that PMS can be a problem, but there's no need to take it out on me," I said.

"Mirany, find the switch," Cordelia growled.

"Wow, and here I was thinking I was the one with anger issues," I muttered.

"Mirany, if you don't start..."

"Don't worry, I'm looking, I'm looking," I said, holding up my hands in defense and peering around at the walls.

The room couldn't have been much bigger than Angel's office, maybe eight by eight. Wow, you know you're spending too much time in America when you start measuring things in imperial rather than metric. I gotta start hanging out with English people again. Because the room was so small, it wasn't hard to find the switch. A soft yellow light flickered on and I yelled in pain as the light completely blinded me for a minute at the very least. As far as I knew, Cordelia just squinted. MY eyes would never be the same again.

"Right, now we should...put that thing out," said Cordelia scowling as me as i stared at my lighter instead of pay attention to her.

I looked up at her.

"Why?" I asked. "It's much more interesting than you."

"Mirany, I don't know how long we are going to be stuck in here together, but do you think we could try to be nice for that time?" asked Cordelia.

"I don't make promises I can't keep," I said. "That would ruin my 'no lying' thing."

"You don't have a 'no lying' thing," said Cordelia. "You say more lies than you say truths."

"Oh yeah? You ask those primary schoolers. I'll bet you they say I was all truth," I said.

"Mirany, you were fired and you weren't even working there," said Cordelia pointedly.

"But at least I was honest," I said pointedly. "Anyway, why should we be nice? We can solve all sorts of inner issues by being mean."

"Alright then," said Cordelia, but there was a definite look in her eye that I didn't like. "We'll be mean."

"Good," I said shortly.

"You won't mind if I call you a bitch then?" asked Cordelia. "After all, it's not an insult if it's true right?"

I bit my tongue to stop myself from biting her.

"So what's it like knowing that your hair looks like a rat's nest?" I asked.

Cordelia gasped and started patting her hair obsessively. I roared with laughter.

"You are too easy," I chuckled.

"MIRANY? CORDELIA?"

The guy's voices sounded faint through the obviously thick steel walls.

"WE'RE IN HERE!" Cordelia yelled, banging on the door.

"Oh yeah, that'll do you a whole lot of good. They don't know where 'here' is," I said pointedly.

"Which would be the point of banging on the door," said Cordelia. "Now do you wanna get out of here or not?"

I considered her for a moment then joined her banging.

"MIRANY? CORDELIA?"

"IN HERE!" Cordelia screamed.

I didn't know what the response to that was. She had caused me to go temporarily deaf. Cordelia slumped against the door.

"It's no use," she muttered. "You're right, they don't know where we are."

"When am I wrong?" I asked, smirking.

Cordelia glared at me.

...

I tapped the tip of my sword against the floor, slowly and deliberately, taking great pleasure in watching Cordelia squirm.

"OKAY!" she yelled finally. "Stop."

"Stop what?" I asked. As though I didn't know.

"Stop tapping," hissed Cordelia dangerously.

"Oh, you mean, like this?" I asked, continuing to tap.

Cordelia got up and grabbed my wrist, digging into my pressure point with her nails until I released the swords.

"Bloody hell, no nails allowed!" I said indignantly, looking down at my wrist as she took the sword and moved back to the other side of the room. "Jeez, you drew blood you bloody vampire! I could get diseases from those nails. I have no idea where they've been!"

"Mirany, the day you get diseases from these nails will be the day the devil ice skates," said Cordelia. "These are far cleaner than anything you've ever been scratched by."

"Yeah, well I'm still going and getting several thousand shots when we get out of here," I muttered.

"And why are you scared of disease anyway?" asked Cordelia. "Oh that's right, because you became part dog and almost died from a disease that humans can't get."

"Your point being?" I asked coolly.

"Well, doesn't that suggest that you're far more dog than human?" asked Cordelia.

"Wolf," I snarled. "Wolf. And so what if I am? Means I'll have less of a conscience when I kill you with..."

I picked up a small stone.

"...this pebble," I said, showing her the rock.

"Okay, well good luck with that," said Cordelia. "And while you sit there contemplating how to kill me with a pebble, I'll sit here contemplating how to kill you with a sword."

"You think you're soooo scary," I said, poking my tongue out at her.

"Immature and stupid," Cordelia commented. "Keep it up Mirany. You're doing great with the whole convincing me that you're not immature and stupid."

"You are going to regret coming on this slaying trip," I said. "Trust me. I will make sure of it."

"You do that," said Cordelia coolly. "And you can expect exactly the same from me."

...

Two long, long hours later, nobody had figured out that we were still stuck here. This night was not going at all how I'd planned. I had wanted to kill a couple of vampires, go back to my place with Connor and have a little fun to relive the stress that inevitably comes when I'm in the same room as Angel. Instead, I was sitting here, feeling stressed, angry and downright tired. Back and forth with Cordelia was more exhausting than the weekend me and Connor had had a few months back...but that's wildly inappropriate. But I was not going to fall asleep. I wasn't going to show any sign of weakness. Then...

"Did you know that your plan to get to Angel by going through Connor is going to fail?" asked Cordelia.

I stared at her.

"Excuse me?" I asked. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard that right."

"You heard me perfectly fine," said Cordelia.

"You think I want to 'get to Angel' as in...EWW!" I yelled, shuddering at the very thought of it. "Are you trying to make me throw up?"

"Mirany, everyone but you, Connor and Angel can see right through your act," said Cordelia.

"So basically, everyone that doesn't matter can see," I summed up. "Hmm, you can see why I might be a little apprehensive about this idea."

"Mirany, why won't you just admit it?" asked Cordelia.

"Because it's not true," I said slowly and very, very, very clearly.

"And are you trying to convince me that, or are you trying to convince you?" asked Cordelia.

"I. Don't. Like. Vamp. Boy," I said plainly.

"Yes. You. Do," said Cordelia just as plainly.

"Tell me, let's say I did, just for the sake of argument," I said. "Why would I go after Connor? What would be the point?"

"I don't know. To prove you're a bitch by breaking his heart when you finally get a chance with Angel?" Cordelia guessed. "For the sake of argument, let's say you'd do it to get closer to Angel."

"Then, for the sake of argument, why would Angel decide that it would be alright for me to shift from his son to him?" I asked.

"Because he's a vampire and has about as much sympathy as you," said Cordelia.

"Oh thank you," I said sarcastically.

"Alright, don't admit it," said Cordelia. "But I know Mirany. I'm a girl too. I can see through all your petty charades."

"Oh, so not only is my relationship with Connor a charade, but it's a petty charade?" I asked, seething with anger and frustration. "Just who do you think you are, accusing me of such dreadful things and liking a vampire?"

"Don't forget about breaking the vampire's son's heart," said Cordelia pointedly.

I pffed.

"If what you were saying was true, it wouldn't be the first time I'd have to break somebody's heart," I said. "I mean sure, I'm not like you were in high school, with the new flavor every week thing, and I certainly don't get paid for my relationships..."

Cordelia didn't seem to like that one much at all.

"...but I'm not exactly a 'breaking up virgin.'"

"Mirany, you're not a virgin at all," said Cordelia.

"Ooh, such a blow," I said sarcastically.

Cordelia stood up and loomed over me.

"If you don't admit it, I'll tell Connor," she said.

"There's nothing to admit!" I said, panicking slightly.

Cordelia raised an eyebrow.

"I love Connor," I said firmly. "I wouldn't do that to him."

"Mirany, you're eighteen," said Cordelia. "You wouldn't know love if it danced naked in front of you. Don't comment."

I closed my mouth, scowling. It wasn't gonna be _that_ inappropriate.

"The point is that what you're feeling is lust and you would do that to him and then you would feel lust for Angel," said Cordelia.

"Okay, if you don't stop saying that, I seriously will throw up," I said.

"Say it," said Cordelia.

"No."

"Say it."

"No."

"Say it, say it, say it."

"FINE!" I yelled, too tired to continue the argument. "Whatever. I'm in love with Angel. God, if you want I'll be in love with the Queen. Can I sleep now?"

"Sure," said Cordelia, smirking at her triumph. "Have sweet dreams of Angel."

...

"Okay, that's it," I said. "I can't stay here any longer. I'm hungry, and tired, and sick to death of you."

"Well what would you like me to do?" asked Cordelia waspishly. "Sit and watch so that when you fail there'll be someone to say 'I told you so?'"

"No, we're getting out of here, help or no," I said, scrambling to my feet and peering at the lock. "You got a bobby pin?"

I didn't wait for an answer and yanked one out of her hair.

"OW!" yelled Cordelia indignantly. "You got hair with that!"

"Shh," I hissed.

"That's not going to work Mirany. It's a dead bolt."

"Shut up and let me work my magic," I snapped, my ear pressed against the metal.

After a little bit of jiggling and a whole lot of swearing, I was getting no where fast.

"I told you so," said Cordelia.

"Well at least I'm trying," I snapped. "I don't see you trying anything."

"That's because I have a small amount of sense," said Cordelia. "Two hours and we'll be out anyway."

"Why?" I asked shrewdly.

"Because while you were asleep, I actually did something useful and found a signal," said Cordelia, waving her phone in my face. "I called Angel and he needs two more hours because of course, even he can't kick down the door."

"I'm stronger than him. If I can't kick down the door, he has no hope," I said.

Cordelia patted me on the shoulder encouragingly.

"You keep telling yourself that," she said. "Now relax and tell me all about your feelings for Angel."

I rolled my eyes.

"Why are you pushing this?" I asked. "Would you like me to break up with Connor? Is this what you're getting at?"

"How would I benefit from you dumping Connor? All I'd end up with was a miserable teenager living with me," said Cordelia.

"Then why?" I asked.

"Because even if you do decide to stay with Connor, you still won't even admit to yourself that you like Angel," said Cordelia.

"BECAUSE I DON'T!"

"Mirany, I've read this line fifty times," said Cordelia.

"Yeah, because I've had to say it fifty times," I said. "You keep giving me no choice."

"You have a choice," said Cordelia. "You can keep denying it or you can just admit it. I already know Mirany. I just want you to know."

"I know," I said firmly. "I don't like him."

"Mirany, you are allowed to like them both," said Cordelia. "This isn't a one or the other sort of thing."

"I don't like him," I repeated.

Cordelia didn't look convinced.

"When you say that, do you feel like you're betraying yourself?" she asked.

"Who are you? Dr Phil?" I asked.

Cordelia remained silent, looking at me pointedly.

"No," I said.

"Mirany..."

"Look, why would I like him? He's been nothing but a pain in the ass since we met and he hasn't changed and oh my god, I do."

Cordelia smirked.

"And the truth will out," she said.

"Oh my god," I said, disgusted with myself. "Oh. My. God. What do I do?"

"Mirany, it's not rocket science," said Cordelia. "You like Connor too. Nothing's changed except that you now know. This doesn't change your relationship with Connor at all."

"Wait, so you've spent all this time trying to get me to admit it just so that you could tell me it doesn't matter?" I asked. "What sort of whacked out do you live in?"

Cordelia looked at me exasperatedly.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know," I muttered, flopping down beside her. "But it's gross! I don't wanna like Angel. He lives off blood! That's creepy and unnatural."

"It's also kinda necessary for him to survive," said Cordelia. "It's not unnatural for him."

"Angel. I like Angel."

The words felt weird on my tongue, sounded strange coming out of my mouth, yet also true.

"Damn it. Just damn it."

...

"Oh man, food," I sighed, savoring every bite of chocolate I had.

"You could have something that would fill you up," Connor suggested.

"Yeah, but it just wouldn't be the same feeling," I said.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he said, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"Yeah, so am I," I said, smiling up at him, but my smile slowly faded. "Connor, I need to talk to you about something."

"No, me first," said Connor.

"Um...okay," I said as he pulled me over to the couch. "What do you want to say?"

Connor took a breath.

"Um, okay. Okay. I...I know this is going to be a bit of a shock. We've only known each other a little over a year after all but I thought today would be a good day because, you know, it's the day we got together and..."

"Connor, you're babbling," I said.

I really needed to tell him about Angel. I didn't know what I was going to do about it yet, but he had to know. It wasn't fair otherwise, and here he was, babbling on about our one year anniversary. I mean sure, it's a big day but this was important.

"Right," said Connor. "Speeding the speech along a little."

He took a ring from his pocket and I sat in dreaded silence as he said the next words.

"Will you marry me?"


	22. Transformations

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**This one is set right after the last one and because of this I got an uncontrollable urge to have a '_Previously on Angel'_ thing, so I've put one of those in as well. There's no quote for this one because I couldn't decide on what to use. Enjoy and review :)**

* * *

_**Previously on Angel**_

"Who are you?" asked Wesley.

"John Kadense," said the man.

"What were you doing?" Wesley asked.

"Just checking up on dear old Mirany Hunter," said Kadense.

"Why do you want to find her?" asked Cordelia.

"You're not cleared for that."

...

"So what did Kadence want?" asked Angel.

"He wanted me to get him an amulet," said Mirany. "Kinda weird actually. They're fairly common. Walk down to your local magic shop and you'll probably find one. It wasn't anything special."

"What do you think he wants it for?" Connor asked.

"Dunno," said Mirany. "But I doubt we've heard the last of him."

...

"You think I want to 'get to Angel' as in...EWW!" Mirany yelled.

"Mirany, everyone but you, Connor and Angel can see right through your act," said Cordelia. "Why won't you just admit it?"

"Because it's not true," Mirany said.

"And are you trying to convince me that, or are you trying to convince you?" asked Cordelia.

"I. Don't. Like. Vamp. Boy," Mirany said plainly.

"Yes. You. Do," said Cordelia just as plainly.

"Look, why would I like him? He's been nothing but a pain in the ass since we met and he hasn't changed and oh my god, I do."

...

Connor took a ring from his pocket.

"Will you marry me?"

* * *

Mirany sat in silence, her eyes wide, staring at me with her mouth slightly open as I waited with baited breath.

"Connor, I'm only eighteen," she said softly.

"I know," I said. "But, I still think it's right."

Mirany bit her lip.

"Connor I'm not good with the whole settling down thing," she said. "I think..."

"Don't think," I said. "Just feel."

Mirany's eyes flickered around my face. She was thinking about something, but I had no idea what. I could only hope she wasn't thinking about all the reasons why not to say yes.

"Yes," she whispered.

...

"Son are you alright?" asked dad as he walked into the lobby. "You look a little...tied down."

He smirked at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Of all the jokes you could come up with," I said pointedly.

"It's too bad," said Wesley. "Your life was only just beginning."

"Thank you all for being so positive and...supportive," I said sarcastically.

Dad clapped me on the shoulder as he walked to the fridge.

"We're supportive," he said as he opened the fridge to pull out his favourite drink of O pos. "We just show it in our own special way."

Normally, dad drinking around us wasn't a problem. He was a vampire. At least it wasn't our blood that he was drinking. But as he poured out the thick liquid, something about the smell caught my attention. It smelt...appealing. The thought of this was slightly disturbing and more than a little disgusting and I felt like throwing up as I felt more and more inclined to take a sip from the glass. Dad caught me.

"This is only just beginning to bother you?" he asked. "What world have you been living in these past eighteen years?"

He shook his head.

"Jeez Connor, here I was thinking it didn't bother you."

"It doesn't," I said quickly. "I just...never mind."

It couldn't have been a big thing really. I was after all a vampire's son. It was probably natural for me to have a small liking for the smell of blood. Of course, I would never know whether it was actually natural or not. I was one of those 'one of a kind' sort of people. I was my own race.

"I suppose you're gonna move in with her then?" asked Wesley.

I blinked.

"What?" I asked dumbly.

"Connor you're engaged to Mirany," he said. "You should probably learn to live with her before you marry her."

"Yeah, when are you going to move out?" asked Angel.

In truth, I hadn't even touched on that matter. It hadn't occured to me at all that marrying Mirany was one of those things that should probably be preceeded by living with Mirany.

"Um...we didn't discuss it," I said truthfully. We hadn't. "Um...I have to go and do...buy things now so if you'll excuse me."

The smell of blood lingered in my nose until I had finally gotten up to my room and closed the door on the scent. By the time the door had shut, my mouth was watering.

...

"Have your teeth always been that pointy and I'm only just realising or are you a vampire in a very good disguise?" asked Mirany, breaking away from me.

It took me a moment to recalibrate.

"I don't know what you're...wait. Pointy?"

In a flash I was in front of a mirror, inspecting my teeth. They did appear a little more fanglike than usual.

"It must be you," I lied, running my thumb over my canines and managing to puncture my skin with them. "They don't look any different to me."

"It's going to be a long time before I get used to this thing," said Mirany, fiddling with the ring on her finger. "I keep looking down and wondering why I'm wearing jewelery."

"Doesn't surprise me that it would take a little getting used to," I muttered absent-mindedly, running these strange occurances over in my head. The blood, the fangs. It couldn't be that I was turning into a vampire...could it? "Things like this tend to take a little time to adjust."

Mirany appeared behind me in the mirror, playing with my hair. I felt her breath on the back of my neck and as I turned around, everything about her seemed to come into sharp focus. Her breath, her smell, her neck, her heartbeat. Before I knew what I was doing I was leaning towards her neck, Mirany running her fingers through my hair and sighing happily as my tongue traced her jugular.

_No._

I broke away from her abruptly. She looked at me, confused.

"Connor?" she asked. "Connor, what's wrong?"

Her head was tilted slightly, her skin bared towards me.

_Stop, god damn it. Stop. What's going on?_

I staggered away from her as she made to take my hand. She looked even more confused, even a little hurt.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled. "I...I have to go."

I was out of there before I could change my mind, heading anywhere but where I had just been.

...

"Connor what are you...?" started dad, but I didn't let him finish and pinned him to the wall.

"What's happening to me?" I growled shakily.

"Connor I don't know what you're talking about," said Angel angrily. "Let go."

I snarled at him and he stared at my pointed fangs.

"Connor, what's going on?" he asked cautiously.

"I don't...know," I said, running a hand through my hair distractedly. "Tell me. Tell me what's happening to me."

"Let go," said dad firmly.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?" I yelled.

"LET GO CONNOR BEFORE I MAKE YOU!" dad yelled back.

I glared at him then released his shirt.

"Alright, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Mirany yelled, barging into the office and slamming the door behind her.

"Ask him," I growled, turning away from her and holding my breath.

"No, I think I'd rather ask you," she said angrily, pulling my shoulder around so that I could see her glare at me. "What was that?"

"Mirany, get out of here," I hissed.

Mirany stared at me.

"What?" she snarled. "What did you just say?"

Dad pulled me away from her.

"Mirany, stay back," he warned.

Mirany stared from him to me.

"What's going on?" she asked worriedly. "What's wrong with Connor?"

"Connor, just back away," said Angel, ignoring Mirany. "Don't use your nose. Don't look at her."

"Angel, what's going on?"

Dad turned to look at Mirany.

"I don't know why and I don't know how but Connor's...Connor's turning into a vampire."

Mirany looked at me and I looked away. Her blood smelt so...

_Oh god. Don't hurt her. Don't hurt her._

"Is that true?" she asked me. "But...how? You're human. You have to be human."

"Mirany, I'm no more human than you are," I grunted.

Mirany drew back slightly.

"Connor..." she started, but her voice trailed away. I didn't watch as she left the room.

I looked at dad.

"How do I stop this?" I asked. "How do I stop this from happening to me?"

Dad couldn't have looked more helpless if he tried.

...

Mirany hadn't gone back to her place. She was sitting curled up on my bed, waiting for me. I withdrew slightly and looked away, but I couldn't for long.

"You insist on making this hard, don't you?" I asked, sitting down beside her.

I hadn't meant to snap at her like I had and she knew it, but she still looked a little hurt.

"Connor. I've been an idiot," she said.

"What?" I asked. "Why would you say that?"

I was unconsciously brushing her hair away from her neck. She looked up at me.

"I know why this is happening," she said, "and I made it happen."

I wasn't listening. I didn't take anything that she said in. I pushed her down onto the bed and rubbed my face into the crook of her neck.

"Connor, listen to me!" said Mirany, trying to break my grip on her wrists.

All I could think of was her blood. Her scent.

_Stop._

I didn't.

"Stop Connor!"

I bit into her.

_You need to stop._

I began to draw her blood.

"Connor..." Mirany whispered.

"Connor, get off her!"

Dad pulled me off Mirany and wrestled me against the wall. Mirany ran her fingers through her hair, grasping it at the roots. Eventually she looked up, but it wasn't her behind her eyes any more. Even dad looked apprehensive. The bite had already gone. I had never seen her heal so quickly. She didn't smell quite so good any more either. Something about her had completely changed. She smelt...wolfy. As she moved, I didn't know if dad was still standing between us to protect her from me, or to protect me from her. I could tell from his face that he knew precisely what had changed, and it didn't appear to be good.

Mirany walked by us all too slowly, glaring at us with increasingly yellowing eyes. Dad was growling, so was Mirany. Between the two of them, suddenly I didn't appear to be a big issue. After agonising moments, she left.

"Okay, I know you know what's going on," I said.

Dad looked at me.

"She's turning into a wolf," he said.

"Okay, I didn't do that," I said.

Angel looked after Mirany.

"No, you didn't," he said. "But I don't think it was any coincidence that it happened when it did."

"What do we do?" I asked, following him out of the room. "We don't know what's happening."

"And here I was thinking that you pinned me to the wall because you thought I did know what was happening," said dad.

"I..."

He had stumped me, but he glanced over his shoulder at me and smiled.

"Don't worry," he said. "I'm not going to hold that against you. Even if I didn't do this to you, I still played a part in it."

Something clicked as he walked into his office, picking up the phone.

"Mirany. Right before I...she said she knew what was happening," I said.

Dad looked up at me.

"She said she made it happen," I said.

"Well, what else did she say?" dad asked.

"That's all," I said.

"She wouldn't have done this on purpose," said dad.

"I don't think she did. She said she was an idiot about something."

Dad frowned and picked up the phone.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Calling Lilah," he said.

"Dad, now is hardly the time to hook up," I said disapprovingly.

"To get her to come and help," he finished.

"Oh. Right. Dad?"

"Mmm?"

"When you say she's turning into a wolf...would it be that bad that the next time we see her she'll have fur and four legs?"

Dad considered me.

"I don't think so," he said. "You're still living. You're still somewhat human. With any luck it'll stay that way with her."

"And if it doesn't?"

"We better hope we can reverse this."

...

Lilah looked me up and down, then smirked.

"You don't make a very good vampire," she commented.

I scowled at her.

"You know what? I don't care," I said. "We need to find Mirany and reverse whatever made this happen."

"Well, I would assume it was a spell aimed at you two only, but neither came into affect until they were triggered. The way it sounds, I would say that you were meant to be triggered first, because Angel drinking blood around here is common, and then Mirany was triggered when you bit her, probably something to do with injecting something straight into her blood stream. It was no accident that you bit her, even when both you and Mirany were telling you to stop."

"Okay, so we're at spell," said Angel. "Any connection to the body swapping one?"

Lilah raised her eyebrows at him.

"I would have thought that was obvious," she said. "Of course."

"But that one was really amatuer and weak," said Cordelia. "Why would they be connected?"

"Because it was aimed specifically at the two of them again," said Lilah. "And it's the same M.O. There was the trigger of them sleeping together and poof, they're in different bodies. If I'm correct about all this I'd say that one was a bit of a tester to see if something worked."

"What were they testing?" asked Angel.

"I have no idea," said Lilah.

"Mirany does," I muttered. "Mirany knows what's going on. We need to find her."

"Won't do you any good," said Lilah. "Mirany may still remain human in form, but her mind's gone. She's a wolf in a human shell by now. What did she say to you?"

"That she was an idiot about something. She knew what was happening and she made it happen," I said.

"No, she can't have. She wouldn't do something like that to herself," said Lilah. 'She's not _that_ stupid."

"She's not stupid at all," I growled at her, rising to my feet angrily.

"Okay, calm down," said Lilah. "I see a vampire temper does nothing to help you."

I slowly sat back down again, glaring at Lilah. I could see why Mirany got so aggrivated at her. I'd be pretty darn pissed off at her if she insulted me twenty-four/seven as well.

"Alright, first we have to find her," said Angel.

"Agreed," said Lilah. "We can't do anything without the two of you. You're connected in this spell and I don't want to do anything that might break that connection. It's too risky."

"Okay, so where do we find her?" I asked.

"You and Lilah go to the house. Cordelia, Wesley, the bar and I'll just look for her," said Angel. "We're back in an hour, you hear? Anyone who's not has been attacked as far as I'm concerned. We don't have time to wait for you. Mirany could already be long gone."

...

**MIRANY**

I was free at last. The human part of me was gone. All that was left was the shell. It was all thanks to him. The boy didn't appreciate the gift, foolish human that his mind still was. I appreciated it. And as I walked into the room, the man who had given this to me looked up and smiled.

"Mirany," said Kadense. "Here at last."


	23. Beastly

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**This one is set right after the last one again. I'm gonna be jumping from two different perpsectives, but it should work...hopefully. My first three parter! Woohoo! Enjoy and don't forget to review.**

* * *

_**"Every man has a wild beast within him." - Anonymous**_

* * *

_**Previously on Angel**_

"Who are you?" asked Wesley.

"John Kadense," said the man.

"What were you doing?" Wesley asked.

"Just checking up on dear old Mirany Hunter," said Kadense.

"Why do you want to find her?" asked Cordelia.

"You're not cleared for that."

...

"So what did Kadence want?" asked Angel.

"He wanted me to get him an amulet," said Mirany. "Kinda weird actually. They're fairly common. Walk down to your local magic shop and you'll probably find one. It wasn't anything special."

"What do you think he wants it for?" Connor asked.

"Dunno," said Mirany. "But I doubt we've heard the last of him."

...

"I. Don't. Like. Vamp. Boy," Mirany said plainly.

"Yes. You. Do," said Cordelia just as plainly.

"Look, why would I like him? He's been nothing but a pain in the ass since we met and he hasn't changed and oh my god, I do."

...

Connor took a ring from his pocket.

"Will you marry me?"

"Yes," she whispered.

...

As Angel poured blood into a glass, something about the smell caught Connor's attention. It smelt...appealing.

...

"Connor what are you...?" started Angel, but Connor didn't let him finish and pinned him to the wall.

"What's happening to me?" he growled shakily.

"Connor I don't know what you're talking about," said Angel angrily. "Let go."

Connor snarled at him and he stared at his son's pointed fangs.

"Tell me. Tell me what's happening to me."

...

"I don't know why and I don't know how but Connor's...Connor's turning into a vampire."

...

"Connor. I've been an idiot," Mirany said. "I know why this is happening, and I made it happen."

...

**CONNOR**

All I could think of was her blood. Her scent.

_Stop._

I didn't.

"Stop Connor!"

I bit into her.

_You need to stop._

I began to draw her blood.

"Connor..." Mirany whispered.

...

Eventually she looked up, but it wasn't Mirany behind her eyes any more. The bite had already gone. Connor had never seen her heal so quickly. She didn't smell quite so good any more either. Something about her had completely changed. She smelt...wolfy. As she moved, Connor didn't know if Angel was still standing between them to protect her from Connor, or to protect Connor from her. Connor could tell from his face that he knew precisely what had changed, and it didn't appear to be good.

Mirany walked by them all too slowly, glaring at them with increasingly yellowing eyes. Angel was growling, so was Mirany. Between the two of them, suddenly Connor didn't appear to be a big issue.

...

"She's turning into a wolf," he said.

...

**MIRANY**

I was free at last. The human part of me was gone. All that was left was the shell. It was all thanks to him. The boy didn't appreciate the gift, foolish human that his mind still was. I appreciated it. And as I walked into the room, the man who had given this to me looked up and smiled.

"Mirany," said Kadense. "Here at last."

* * *

**MIRANY**

He smiled as I stood in front of him. Through a mirror behind him I could see my yellow eyes, different sort of smirk on my face, a completely new person to the girl I had been. I was a wolf, as it should be.

"Mirany, here at last. He did take his time, didn't he?"

_Connor._

I growled at the mention of him. The mirror showed pointed teeth in my mouth. Perfect teeth.

"Oh of course, talking's not your strong point at the moment is it?"

He chuckled. I waited. Where was his command? I was his to be commanded.

"This couldn't go any better. When they come for you, you will end them."

Command. I could do that.

...

**CONNOR**

"She wasn't there," Lilah told dad.

"She wasn't at Dan's either," said Cordelia.

"He said he'd contact us if he heard anything," said Wesley.

"He won't," said dad. "I caught her scent but I lost her."

"Can I try?" I asked.

"Connor, I've been a vampire for centuries, you've been a vampire for a few hours," said dad.

"But I'm more likely to know where she went after I lose her," I said pointedly.

"Before we continue to look for Mirany, I've been thinking about what she said to you," said Lilah. "And I think I know what she meant."

"Excellent, what did she mean?" asked dad.

"I think she meant the amulet that she got for Kadense," said Lilah. "There's a reason why he didn't just walk into a shop a get it himself and I think it was because he wanted DNA. Your DNA and Mirany's would have been on that thing."

"Why would mine have bene on there?" I asked. "I didn't touch it."

"But she's touched you. Several times. Your DNA was transferred from your hand to her hand to the amulet," said Lilah.

"Which is how the spells have been so specific," said Wesley. "There are plenty of people and demons out there that could have been changed by the spell he's placed on you two, but they weren't because he had your DNA."

"Where does he live?" dad asked Lilah.

"Um...a couple of blocks away from here," said Lilah.

"I lost Mirany's scent a couple of blocks away," said dad. "She was probably going there."

"If that's true then not only is her human self long gone, but her wolf self thinks it owes him," said Lilah.

"Oh great, that's just what we need," said dad sarcastically. "A wild wolf-girl who thinks she owes the person we really don't like."

"It's alright, you're allowed to swear," said Cordelia.

Dad gave a continuous stream of curses.

"Are you done?" asked Lilah.

"Yeah," said dad casually.

"Okay, we have to find Kadense," I said.

"I can help you there," said Lilah.

...

**MIRANY**

"You will never be the person you once were," said Kadense.

_Good._

"You will never feel the emotions you once had."

_Better._

"You are nothing but a beast. A machine."

_Now just to break free of this body._

"You rely on your instincts, not your heart, not your head. Only what you know."

_Always._

"You are mine to command."

_For now._

"You will always be mine to command."

_Only until my debt is paid._

He leaned into my ear.

"You are a wolf."

I howled in agreement.

...

**CONNOR**

"Um, there's one small problem," said dad. "Neither of us can go in there to rescue you once you've been ripped apart."

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I'm still human."

"No you're not," said Lilah. "This is a problem."

"Then let me solve it for you."

The door swung open and Kadense stood at the threshold. He looked extremely happy about something. I could hear growling further into the apartment.

"Oh look, you brought weapons," Kadense chuckled. "How lovely. You know, I have to wonder what exactly you plan to do with them."

"Well, we were hoping on killing you," said Lilah.

"Killing me wouldn't solve the problem now, would it?" asked Kadense.

The growling was growing louder.

"But, I'm forgetting my manners," he said. "Please, come in."

Dad moved forwards but Lilah stopped him.

"What's the game here John?" she asked shrewdly. "Why Mirany? Why Connor?"

Kadense had a gleam in his eyes that I really didn't like.

"Since when did you care Morgan?" he asked. "We had a deal."

Dad and I both looked at her.

"That was a long time ago John and that ended when you interrupted my affairs, namely the ones concerning my sister," said Lilah. "Or don't you remember that little clause."

Kadense didn't seem all too fussed about whether we came in or not, which made me think that if we didn't leave soon, we were likely to get ravaged. The growling was becoming louder still, punctuated by throat ripping snarls and a few crashes which sounded like glass. Kadense sighed.

"Dogs huh? No matter how well you train them, they still break stuff."

I snarled.

"Don't call her a dog!"

Dad and Lilah held me back as I went to bite him.

"You didn't answer my question," Lilah grunted, struggling to keep a hold of my arm.

Kadense smirked.

"Because I've gotten rid of the Slayer," he said. "And I've done what you could never do Morgan. She's evil. Her soul is purely, totally, absolutely black. There's nothing left but a human shell."

"You change us back," I snarled. "NOW!"

"Ooh, not very friendly," Kadense commented. "But why would I deny Mirany what she loves so much? Why don't you talk to her about it and I'll just get out of your way? Let's see how much she really does love you."

"Connor, we have to go," said dad, trying to pull me away unsuccessfully.

"No, he wants to take the challenge," Kadense smirked.

"Connor, just walk away. There's nothing you can do," said Lilah. "We'll figure something else out."

I was baring my fangs at Kadense now. I couldn't care less what might happen to me, I wasn't leaving without Mirany, nor without beating the bastard in front of me within an inch of his life. I couldn't decide whose growling was louder, mine or Mirany's.

"Connor we _have_ to go," said dad urgently, tugging me away.

But long gone were the days when it was that easy for him to pull me away. I wrenched out of his grip and dived at Kadense...just as he was replaced by Mirany. In two seconds Lilah was dragging me away by the neck and dad was fighting a losing battle against Mirany as he held her back.

"Let go!" I snarled, pulling Lilah back towards Mirany.

Kadense was standing in the background, looking as though he had just won the lottery. I wanted to rip his throat right from his stupid body. Mirany was snarling, biting and scratching dad, which appeared to be quite effective now that she had claws and wolf teeth. Lilah gave up and I moved towards Kadense again, but Mirany wouldn't let me get anywhere near him.

"Mirany," I breathed. "Mirany, don't. Please. We can stop this."

Mirany snarled at me and swiped at my face. I didn't get out of the way fast enough, and suddenly I couldn't see out of one eye.

"Mirany! Kill them," Kadense growled.

Mirany bared her teeth at me and dived, but dad got in the way.

"Stop," he said forcefully.

I didn't think it would work, but it did. Mirany froze, staring at him as though seeing him for the first time. She tilted her head to the side, then the other. There was some serious back and forth going on between the two of them as they stared each other down.

"You are not a wolf," said Angel. "You're the Slayer. You're human."

Kadense, Lilah and I were all holding our breaths.

_Work. Please work._

How was he doing it? Why hadn't I been able to do it?

"Mirany. This is not you."

The yellow in Mirany's eyes was fading. Her growling ceased. The claws that had just made me half blind receeded. The teeth blunted. The wolf was gone. The girl fainted.

...

**MIRANY**

He just stood there as I growled.

"Mirany. This is not you."

Something inside me stirred.

_I won't go back. No!_

But I was wrong. I wasn't as strong as she was. I was losing my freedom.

I was fighting against the beast Kadense had made me. I was winning. I had taken control. And now, I was fainting.

...

**CONNOR**

Kadense stared in horror as Mirany collapsed and all three of us rounded on him. I got there first. Holding him a foot above the floor by his neck, I snarled in his face.

"Reverse it," I growled. "Now."

...

**MIRANY**

"So, we're sure he's not going to come back again?" I asked.

We were sitting in the lobby, Angel beside Lilah, Connor beside me. There was a lingering sense inside me that told me the seating arrangements felt wrong.

"Oh, he's definitely not coming back," said Lilah knowingly.

"Yeah, he's several feet under," said Angel.

"I thought you said you didn't kill him," I said, confused.

"We didn't," said Connor, "we just made sure he'll never see the light of day again, dead or no."

He was back to normal. No more fangs, no more blood, just adorable ol' human.

"He's locked up very securely in Wolfram and Hart's strong hold," said Lilah.

"Right," I said.

What had Angel done to me? How had he managed to stop me? It was like he had hypnotised me or something. One thing was certain though. Even with the spell reversed, I was having a difficult time controlling the more...feral side of me. Apparently it had been awoken for good. Maybe that was how he had done it. He had a feral side to him too. I could tell when he got angry. He had moments, brief moments, where Angel wasn't Angel any more. He was something much, much worse. He could help me control myself because he did it constantly. He knew what it was like to have to tame the beast within.

"Mirany?"

I was jerked out of my trance.

"Huh?" I asked stupidly.

"Lilah and I are taking our leave now," said Angel slowly and clearly.

"Oh, right, yeah, bye," I said distractedly.

My stomach seemed to fill with lead as I saw him wrap his arm around Lilah's waist as they left, walking off into the night. I found Connor's arm doing the same thing to me. I had to tell him. I couldn't do this.

"Connor, I need to tell you something and...you're not gonna like it," I said, moving away from him to the end of the lounge.

"What's wrong?" asked Connor, taking my hand.

I drew out of his grip and fingered the ring on my hand.

"I can't do this," I said to my knees.

"Can't do what?" asked Connor.

I slipped the ring off and pressed it into his hand.

"I'm sorry," I said.

I left before he could take in what had happened. I didn't want to see his reaction. I doubted my heart could take it.

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**This is the end of my second season. I hope you enjoyed it. I will begin on Season Three right away. Please tell me what you thought of the chapters and I'll update as soon as possible.  
This is your author. Over and out.**


	24. SEASON 3 Control

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**And Season Three is underway! Wow, Season Three. I've come so far...nah. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the next chapters. I have a ripper of a season planned, and may I just say, wow, I've actually planned something. But seriously, do enjoy and don't forget to review because I love hearing your input and please, if you do have a favourite quote include it in the review because I'm always looking for fresh ones. I'm getting a little sick of writing the chapter then having to Google a quote to go with it. I want to base a chapter off a quote, not a quote off a chapter if that makes any sense at all :S**

**Anyway, quote or not, enjoy and review :)**

* * *

_I ran as fast as I could through the darkness, constantly looking back, my heart pounding faster and faster. It was gaining on me. I could sense it. I was already running as fast as I could but I pushed myself harder, willing myself to go faster. But non matter how hard and fast I ran, it still gained on me._

_I was at the end of the alley. I couldn't go any further. The wall was too high too jump over and besides, that would take time which I did not have. It would just follow me anyway. I turned and flattened myself against the wall. I heard it, just out of my range of vision, the darkness wrapped around it. It stepped forwards and..._

...

I woke, yelling. I took many a moment to recalibrate before I was able to summon the strength and nerve to push myself up. What I saw when I had pushed myself up didn't make me feel any better. The bed looked like it had been attacked by some sort of wild animal, but it wasn't new to me. I was getting a whole new bed every day, because every night, as I had the same dream, I turned into the same monster. For three months I had been able to keep the wolf at bay, day and night, but now for some reason, the dream I kept having seemed to trigger my 'wild side.' This had been going on for two weeks now.

I hadn't told Angel yet, but I knew he was getting suspicious. He was still coming round every day, making sure that I was in control, and he seemed to come round at about the same time that the furniture makers came round with the exact replica of the bed I had once had. I didn't even need to call them now. We had a sort of understanding going. They would stop bringing round a bed when I called them.

While I hadn't told Angel, I had told Lilah, who, for once in her life, was agreeing to keep it a secret and was so far coming through on that. Lilah had been helping me almost as much as Angel had. After the whole wolf thing, I was finding it harder and harder to keep it together. Until I could learn the self-control that Angel had, I needed her help doing stuff that I would normally be able to do by myself. I couldn't do every day things the way I once had. I kept getting attacked by the wolf inside me and was finding it more and more difficult to sort out affairs and the like. Lilah had stepped up as the older, responsible sister and was doing her best to stay on top of taxes and whatever else was thrown my way while I battled myself.

I felt bad about needing them both. They had their own lives to handle, particularly Angel, who was having to deal with Connor as he got over my break up. I hadn't seen him since that day. I couldn't bring myself to go around there. I had quit my job at the garage, again, because I had almost savaged the guys and wasn't going to put them in that sort of danger again. Lilah was brave to come round when Angel wasn't here, but then again, I had seen the end of the tranquillizer gun she carried more than once.

I checked my watch. Two hours. Two hours was all I could get. Well, it was better than nothing. I wondered if Lilah would get some of that stuff that stopped the dreams for me. Even if I could get just one good night's sleep a week I would be so much better off. But every time I closed my eyes, I immediately started running.

I had to tell Angel. This was getting out of control. I climbed out of bed and staggered to the door, but I heard voices outside and paused, listening intently.

"I don't know how much longer she can keep this up," said Angel. "Every day she seems more distracted."

"She's got a lot on her mind," said Lilah.

She still wasn't giving me away. I never thought I'd see the day.

"A lot on her mind or not, she can't keep this up. It's going to kill her," said Angel.

"She's trying," said Lilah. "I'm sure she can get through this. She'll learn to control herself. It just takes time. You of _all_ people should know this. We both know it took you years before you could control yourself."

Years? I wasn't sure I could do this for years. Deciding it was time to break up their conversation, I opened the door and moaned in pain as the light hit my eyes.

"Hangover or just adjusting?" asked Angel.

"Ah shut up," I muttered. "You'd be drinking too if you were in my position."

"Funnily enough, I am," Angel pointed out. "But you don't see me with a hangover."

"You're a vampire, you don't get hangovers," I said as Lilah dimmed the lights.

"I'll accept that arguement," said Angel.

"I have something to tell you," I told him. "And you're not gonna like it."

"Why don't you just show it to him?" asked Lilah.

"Right," I mumbled. "Angel. Bedroom. Now."

Angel mock saluted me and disappeared into my bedroom as I collapsed into his seat.

"You salute with the other hand! It's getting worse," I groaned to Lilah.

"I'll say," she said, kneeling in front of me. "You really don't look good."

"Oh great observation," I snapped sarcastically.

Angel appeared again.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

"Every day for the past two weeks I've woken up to that," I said. "I can't control it when I'm asleep any more. Something's changed. I've been getting this dream, over and over again, and for some reason it seems to wake up the wolf inside me."

"What's the dream about?" asked Angel.

I sighed.

"I don't know," I muttered. "I'm running and running and it's dark and I'm in some sort of alleyway. I'm being chased by something. I get to the end of the alley and of course it's a dead end and I turn around and it's about to reveal itself and then I wake up."

"Hence the yelling," said Lilah.

"Wait. This has been happening for two weeks and you didn't think to tell me?" asked Angel. "Mirany, how do you expect me to help you if you don't tell me what to help you with?"

"I figured you'd probably figure it out," I said. "Don't raise your voice. I'm dying."

"When did you think I'd figure it out?" asked Angel loudly.

"Okay, you're doing that on purpose and I hate you," I said. "And I don't know. I wasn't exactly in my right mind."

"This is why you've been a little distracted?" asked Angel.

I nodded and groaned as my head throbbed.

"How long has it been since you've slept through a night?" he asked worriedly.

"Maybe a week and a half," I said. "I actually slept fine when I was transquillized, but I'm so not doing that again because I couldn't feel my arm for three days."

"You're either a really good shot or a really bad shot," Angel told Lilah.

"I'm a really good shot but I don't think that's the problem right now," said Lilah, forcing a glass of water into my hand. "Drink."

"Are you trying to kill me?" I asked indignantly. "Get me alcohol."

"No," the two of them said forcefully.

"Kill joys," I muttered, scowling.

"Okay, first we need to find a way of getting you a proper night's sleep, then we'll deal with the going wofly at night thing," said Angel.

"You had stuff that stopped the dreams," I said, looking up at Lilah. "When you were trying to recruit me."

Lilah bit her lip.

"That stuff wasn't exactly good for you Mirany," she said.

"Why not?" I asked suspiciously.

"Because it may have dulled your powers slightly so that it would be easier to hurt you," said Lilah, not catching my eye.

"Well thank you for notifying me," I scowled. "I'm going to kill you now."

"Nobody's killing anybody because somebody couldn't move even if they didn't have a hangover," said Angel pointedly. "No wonder you've been distracted, you're not functioning properly. The first night you had this dream did you wake up to find a destroyed bed?"

I thought back painfully.

"No," I said finally.

"See, you can only control yourself when you have control of your brain, which right now you don't because you can't get any sleep," said Angel.

"I didn't catch a word of that," I said truthfully.

"I'm taking you to Wesley."

"No," I said quickly. "No. Can't Lilah find something?"

Angel looked up at Lilah, who shook her head.

"Sorry. I got nothing," she said.

I knew she was lying. I could tell. Her eye twitched. She knew exactly why I didn't want to be taken to Wesley was because I didn't want to chance running into Connor, but she had been trying to get me to at least talk to him again since we broke up. I just couldn't do it. I couldn't bring myself to see the pain I had caused.

"Then it's settled. We go to Wesley," said Angel firmly.

I whimpered slightly.

"Can't you just...go and get something then come back?" I tried.

"Controlled substances Mirany," said Lilah, looking rather pleased with herself. "Wesley wouldn't want you to have some sort of reaction to the stuff without him being there to put it right."

I glared at her.

"Fine," I muttered, pushing myself to my feet, but I took maybe two steps before my knees gave up. "Oh, look, I can't walk. Guess I'll just have to stay here."

Lilah and Angel both gave me looks that read 'you're kidding right' before Angel picked me up and all but flung me over his shoulder.

"Hey!" I said indignantly, hitting his back in annoyment. "Put me down."

"We're going to see Wesley," said Angel. "Whether you can walk there or not."

I grumbled the whole way to the hotel.

...

We didn't see Connor as Angel got something that looked like it would probably burn my tastebuds off from Wesley and all but dragged me upstairs and into his room. Even with the prospect of no tastebuds, not seeing Connor had lifted my spirits slightly. I had never actually been into Angel's room, but it looked basically how I had imagined it. Everything that could be crimson, was.

"Wow, you know, you come off as an unstereotypical vampire but really you're a sucker for the classics, aren't you?" I asked.

Angel rolled his eyes.

"Drink and sleep," he ordered.

"You'll stay here right?" I asked.

"Course," said Angel. "I don't trust you with my bed."

I scowled at him.

"Yes," he said. "I'll make sure you don't end up killing any one or something if you turn 'evil' again. I still think you're over-exaggerating that."

"Care to try me?" I challenged.

"You could never be evil, no matter what was inside you," said Angel. "Trust me, I know."

"Oh of course you do, Scourge of Europe," I muttered.

Angel flinched slightly at my attack and I suddenly felt both very pleased with myself, and a little ashamed at bringing up his old days. He wasn't that vampire any more. I took the tiny bottle of liquid from him and downed it in one gulp, determined not to let it hit my tongue. I stood there for maybe two seconds after finishing it before I began to feel very, very sleepy.

...

_I ran as fast as I could through the darkness, constantly looking back, my heart pounding faster and faster. It was gaining on me. I could sense it. I was already running as fast as I could but I pushed myself harder, willing myself to go faster. But non matter how hard and fast I ran, it still gained on me._

_I was at the end of the alley. I couldn't go any further. The wall was too high too jump over and besides, that would take time which I did not have. It would just follow me anyway. I turned and flattened myself against the wall. I heard it, just out of my range of vision, the darkness wrapped around it. It stepped forwards and..._

...

Someone grabbed hold of my shoulders as I woke up, yelling again. After a moment of confused panic, in which the someone managed to get a little beaten up, I finally realised who it was. Angel scowled at me as I let go of his hair.

"Sorry," I muttered. "Reflex."

I only registered then how Angel looked. He had deep, half healed scratch marks all over his face and arms, and a single, still bleeding bite at his wrist.

"Okay, I didn't do that," I said.

"You did," said Angel wearily. "You know, it is really hard to get someone off once they're attached by the teeth."

"Guess the Wesley thing didn't work then," I said.

"No, Wesley's thing didn't work," said Angel carefully.

"But..." I pressed.

I knew it was coming. Something had to have worked, because as I checked my watch, I could have sworn that I fell asleep on Wednesday not Friday.

"You bit me," said Angel cautiously.

"So?" I asked. "Do you some good. Beat you into shape a little."

"I don't think you quite understand," said Angel.

"Obviously not, so tell me," I said pointedly.

Angel frowned.

_Does this help?_

I yelled and scrambled away from him in shock, barely managing not to fall off the bed on the other side as Angel's voice spoke in my head.

"How's that for an explanation?" asked Angel.

"How...? What...? Why...?" I couldn't finish any of my sentences.

"In taking my blood you created a bond between us," said Angel carefully. "The good news is that until you can control yourself, I can control you. The bad news is that to do that you have to drink my blood."

"What?" I snarled. "I'm not a vampire Angel!"

"I know, I know," said Angel. "I know what this sounds like and I know that you don't want this. But it's been getting harder for you to control yourself. Until you can, this could be the only way to help you and to keep the rest of us from becoming prey."

"Okay, just slow down a second," I said. "You're in my head. You...how do we break this bond thing?"

"You can't break a blood bond Mirany," said Angel. "The only way they break is if one of us dies. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to volunteer myself for it. Look, I don't want this any more than you do. But you were completely subdued. For two days. And still you didn't change just now when you were having that dream. You just had a bad dream."

"Angel, I'm not going to drink your blood just so that you can tame me," I said firmly.

"Mirany, without my blood you'll be driven mad," Angel sighed. "It's basically what's keeping you alive."

"So...so what?" I asked. "I've become part vampire, part wolf? What part of me is still me? What part of me is human?"

Angel opened his mouth to speak but I wasn't done yet.

"I don't want you in my head! I don't want to have to rely on you to live!" I yelled at him as I clambbered to my feet. "I can't do this! You can't make me do this!"

I moved towards the door but Angel stopped me. He hadn't moved, but I could feel him stopping me. I turned to glare at him.

"SO NOW YOU CONTROL ME?" I yelled. "NOW I'M YOUR...YOUR PUPPET?"

"Mirany, just hear me out," said Angel wearily.

"NO! NO I WON'T HEAR YOU OUT! I'M NOT...ahh!"

I was forced to my knees as pain ripped through my body. It was at it again, looking for a weak spot to break through. Angel knealt down beside me.

"Mirany, this is only going to get worse," he said, holding out his wrist. "I know you don't want it, but you have to."

I slapped his hand away.

"I don't need you, I can stop this myself," I grunted.

The pain ceased as suddenly as it had begun and I flopped onto my back, staring up at the ceiling, panting with the effort of fighting myself. Angel was still kneeling beside me.

"How do I control it?" I asked shakily.

"Mirany, you haven't got the control," said Angel urgently. "You can't do this alone. You're not strong enough yet. It takes years. I have the power to help you. Let me."

"No I...ahh!"

I clawed at my body as pain tore through it again. Angel had me leaning against him by the shoulders and was forcing his still bleeding wrist to my mouth.

"I don't care whether you want it or not, I'm not going to stand by and watch this happen to you," he said.

I had never known blood to taste so good, nor had I ever felt better after tasting it. I didn't want to, but I couldn't stop myself. The pain went as I drew his blood. I felt the wolf receed deep, deep inside me. I pulled away from his arm and spat out whatever was left in my mouth.

"Are you alright?" asked Angel.

"Get away from me!" I snapped, pushing myself off him and all but dashing from the room. Angel didn't follow.

...

"I thought that's what you wanted," said Dan. "For him to have a connection with you. I knew it. Every single time I hinted, deny, deny, deny, but I knew. You want a connection with him."

"Yeah, except that he's got a connection with Lilah," I said, grabbing hold of the bottle before he had even taken off the cap and tearing it off with my teeth. "And this wasn't exactly the connection I was talking about."

"True," said Dan. "But maybe that's a good thing."

I stared at him in confusion as I waited for him to stop serving demons.

"What good? Where is the good? Show me the good," I said pointedly.

"Uh...no I got nothin' as far as your relationship goes," said Dan after a moment.

"Great," I muttered. "Just great. Even the bartender's no use. You know, you used to have good information."

"You're not gonna beat me up are you?" asked Dan nervously.

"Why would I? It's obvious that you don't have any information I can use," I snapped.

"You know, after breaking up with Connor, you have become very insufferable," said Dan.

"I'm going to ignore that statement," I said.

"Why?" asked Dan.

"Because if I don't, you'll wake up with no usable limbs," I said angrily.

"This guy annoying you?" asked a vampire, leaning on the counter beside me.

I glanced him up and down.

"Dude, I would crush you like a bug," I said.

"Okay, goodbye," said Dan, moving around the counter to usher me away.

"What? You can't kick me out!" I said indignantly.

"I'm not, I'm just kicking you over here," said Dan, pushing me into a booth as far away from the counter as possible.

"You can kick me wherever the hell you want, I'm still going to be a bitch," I said.

"Yes, but with any luck I won't be able to hear it," said Dan, walking away.

_Hmm. Even Dan can tell you're insufferable. Now what does that tell you? What was he saying about you wanting a connection?_

"If you're going to listen in, you could at least have the decency to do not talk about it afterwards," I muttered.

Angel sat down opposite me and smirked.

"Yeah, but I've never been decent," he said.

"Really? I'd never have guessed," I said sarcastically. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you to leave me alone and then pushed you into a wall."

"You told me to get away from you then you pushed me into the floor but I figure that's probably the same thing to you," said Angel quickly as I glared at him. "How long?"

"How long what?" I asked. "How long do I think it'll take me before I snap your useless, annoying neck, or how long do I think it'll take me to go mad and kill everyone in the room?"

"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that you don't wanna talk to me," Angel guessed. "But what I meant was how long have you wanted a connection with me?"

"As far as I'm aware, there was no name calling, so how can you be sure that I was talking about you?" I asked.

"Because you named Lilah," said Angel.

For the first time I could remember, I was silenced.

"Is that why you were so angry?" asked Angel.

"I wasn't angry Angel, I was furious," I snapped. "And why can't you just keep your nose out of other people's business?"

"Because I'm involved in this business," Angel growled. "And you've got no choice but to trust me now. So for once in your life Mirany, talk to me."

I stared at him for a moment before rising to my feet.

"I have to go," I said shortly, turning to walk away, but Angel grabbed my wrist.

"Mirany, there's no point in you leaving because you know I'm just going to keep following," he said.

"Wow, you're like an overbearing boyfriend without the happy ending," I snapped.

Angel wasn't thrown. In fact, he looked sort of smug.

"I bet I'd get a different response from your sister," he said.

I jerked my arm out of his grip and stalked towards the door but he got in front of me.

"Okay, I'm sorry," he said. "That was low."

"No, really?" I asked angrily. "Because here I was thinking it was just mean."

I pushed past him and made it all the way outside the bar before he appeared again.

"Why won't you just leave me alone?" I asked desperately, trying to walk faster in an attempt to get rid of him. "Why are you always following me and trying to find new ways to make my life a living hell?"

"Hey, I didn't exactly offer my blood to you," said Angel pointedly, keeping up with my pace without effort. "You just took it. And why are you so annoyed? You liked it."

"Yeah, and that's what scares me," I said, stopping beside my bike and glaring at him. "I didn't just drink it because you gave me no choice. I drank it because I craved it. And while craving blood isn't exactly something new to you, it scares the hell out of me. I don't want anything to do with it."

"Why not?" asked Angel. "It wasn't exactly bad for you."

"Because I'm not me any more," I said. I could feel tears forming in the corners of my eyes and I wiped them away angrily. "I'm not human any more. I'm...I don't even know what I am, but whatever it is, it's not me and I don't want to be it."

"You have no choice," said Angel firmly. "I told you before, I'm all that's keeping you alive now."

"Well then maybe I don't wanna live!" I yelled at him.

Angel looked shocked.

"Mirany, you don't mean that," he said softly. "Tell me you don't mean that."

"I can't," I said. Tears were running down my cheeks now. "I can't tell you I don't mean that because it would be a lie."

Angel pulled me into his chest.

"Mirany, we'll figure it out yeah?" he said. "It'll be alright. Take it back Mirany. Please."

I found my fingers tracing his chest. Angel closed his eyes and took hold of my hands. I bit my lip as he took a step away and gave me that slightly disappointed, slightly disapproving look which I seemed to get every time I opened my mouth.

"Mirany, go home," he said simply.

Without another word, he walked away. I stood there, staring after him, but the moment didn't last long.

"So, that's why you left me huh?"

I spun around to find Connor leaning again the wall, scowling at me.

"Connor, if you knew half the story, you wouldn't have said that," I said.

"No, I probably wouldn't have, but seeing as I got no part of the story, I had to create my own," said Connor angrily.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you," I said, turning my back on him.

I hadn't planned on hitting him, it just sort of turned out that way. He grabbed my shoulder and it was night and my reflexs took over. The end result was Connor with a broken nose and me feeling so much better.

"You left me for my _dad_!" he snarled at me. "And news flash. He's with _your sister_."

"News flash, it wasn't _you_ that snapped me out of it three months ago," I said angrily. "And it's not _your_ blood that I have to suck to survive!"

Yeah, that was low, but it bought me enough time to drive away. And okay, that was even lower, but from that point all we were going to do was slag on each other. There was no point hanging around for that. I already knew I would win.

...

Angel looked up as I walked into his office.

"You could have told me you brought Connor with you last night," I said, sitting down.

"I figured you'd just leave before he could get a chance to talk to you," said Angel, leaning back in his chair. "Turns out that wasn't the greatest idea in the book. What do you want?"

"I just thought I could sit," I mumbled.

"What? All the surfaces that you could sit on at your place have disappeared or something?" asked Angel.

"I'm sorry," I muttered. "You just caught me at a bad time."

"It didn't help that I hit a nerve too," said Angel knowingly, walking around his desk to squat in front of me. "I'm sorry too."

"You really think this can work?" I asked him.

"I...I think it can work for now," he said. "But I think sooner or later it's not going to help tame you, just keep you from going insane."

"Oh right, you're not just my trainer, you're my life support," I said resentfully.

"Mirany don't start with me," said Angel wearily. "I'm beginning to feel my age and you're really not helping."

"It must be difficult to feel your age when you're coming up to your...tricentenial," I said, smirking at him.

"Hey, do you want your life support or not?" he asked pointedly.

_I want more than that._

Angel gave a faint chuckle to the floor.

"You know I can hear you, right?" he asked.

"It works both ways?" I asked.

He nodded.

"If it's any concillation, you're wrong about me and Lilah," he said.

I stared at him.

"Huh?" I asked dumbly.

"You're wrong about me and Lilah," Angel repeated simply.

I was speechless again. How was this guy doing it?

"We stopped maybe two months ago," he said.

I was mouthing silently at him like a fish.

"But," he said, clapping me on the shoulder as he straightened up, "I'm not Connor. You can't spend one day with me and then have me declare my unconditional love, nor will I ever, ever propose to you. You might actually have to work for something for once."

I was still processing as he left the room.


	25. It Takes Two

_**"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." - Albus Dumbledore**_

* * *

Lilah stared at me in confusion.

"I'm sorry, I thought you didn't like having prophetic dreams," she said.

"Lilah, if I can stay asleep long enough to find out what it is that I'm running from then we have a chance at figuring out how to stop it," I said.

It was a good plan, in theory anyway. In practice I wasn't quite so positive. I didn't know if I really wanted to see what it was that I was so terrified of, but at the same time, I felt I needed to. Lilah looked at Angel for support, who was frowning.

"Just how does this work?" he asked.

I held up the tiny jar of deep purple powder.

"Simple," I said. "When I fall asleep, all you have to do is wipe a bit of this on my forehead."

"The powder induces dreams," Lilah explained. "And it makes sure that a dream lasts it's duration, unless something external wakes her up. Mirany keeps waking up before she can find out what she's dreaming about. But there's a whole lot of things that can go wrong with this that I don't think you've considered yet Mirany. What if the dream lasts a lot longer than you think it does?"

"They're prophetic dreams, they're not supposed to last for eternity," I said pointedly. I hoped what I was saying was actually true, because I really had no idea. "And sure, there's the chance that it won't even induce the right dream, but that's what this is for."

I tossed Angel a whistle.

"One blow into that and I'll be wide awake."

Angel tossed the whistle to Lilah.

"I don't breathe," he reminded me.

"And how will we know if it's the right dream or not?" Lilah asked pointedly.

"Doesn't take a genius," I said. "You know what I'm like with those dreams. I usually dream every night but they never quite affect me the way these do. I thrash around and stuff and always seem to mutter something, so I'm told."

"I don't like this," said Lilah fervently.

"Neither do I," said Angel, frowning. "It's not a good idea."

"You can't judge that," I said indignantly. "You didn't even know what it was until two seconds ago. And besides, it's not up to you two, I just wanted your opinions."

"It is up to us, we're the ones that have to induce the dream and wake you up if something goes wrong," Lilah said.

I shrugged.

"I can get someone else to do it," I said. "There are plenty of people around here who would be happy for an extra zero on their next pay cheque."

Angel and Lilah scowled at me, but I knew I had got them. Neither of them would want someone inexperienced to do something like this, just in case something really bad happened.

"Fine," said Lilah. "But only because I don't want you getting some ignorant twat to do it instead."

"I suppose I'll hang around too," said Angel. "Tame you if I need to."

Lilah grimaced. We had told her about the whole blood thing, and as far as I could tell, she couldn't think of anything more disgusting. I had to admit, it was pretty high up on my list of disgusting things as well.

"Well, if we're going to do this we may as well get it over with," said Lilah. She still looked disapproving.

...

_I ran as fast as I could through the darkness, constantly looking back, my heart pounding faster and faster. She was gaining on me. I could sense it. I was already running as fast as I could but I pushed myself harder, willing myself to go faster. Faster than I had ever gone before. But no matter how hard and fast I ran, still she gained on me._

_I was at the end of the alley. I couldn't go any further. The wall was too high too jump over and besides, that would take time which I did not have. She would just follow me anyway, and she'd probably beat me at it as well. I turned and flattened myself against the wall. I heard her, just out of my range of vision, the darkness wrapped around her as she slowed to a deliberate walk. She stepped forwards, vicious grin on her face._

_I stared into my red eyes and at those slightly pointed teeth. She was me but so much better. Faster, stronger, and far, far more dangerous than anything I could hope to be. I slid down the wall. I knew the end had come. She walked up to me and bared her fangs._

_"Your number's up Slayer," she said. "How does it feel, dying for nothing?"_

_I screamed as fangs pierced my neck._

...

The whistle blast woke me up with a start and I wrapped my arms around the first neck I found. Angel's cold skin met me and I buried my face in his neck.

"I did say it wasn't a good idea," Lilah muttered. "But would you listen? No."

"Lilah," said Angel scathingly. "Do you really think now is the time?"

Lilah was silent as Angel tried to comfort me. But I was beyond comfort. I had literally just been killed by myself. I was beyond all help right now. I just sat and cowered against Angel's chest. After several minutes, Angel had managed to pull me off his neck.

"Mirany, what did you see?" he asked.

I looked up at him through bloodshot eyes.

"Me," I whispered. "I saw...me."

...

"But how did they duplicate you like that?" Angel wondered aloud.

"And who is 'they'?" asked Cordelia.

"More importantly, how was she able to kill you without killing herself?" asked Wesley. "It's not hard to duplicate someone, but as we already know, they're just two different parts of the same person, not two completely different people."

"How did she become a vampire?" asked Cordelia.

"With red eyes? I'm not even sure she can be classed as a vampire," said Lilah.

Connor had been silent since the beginning, but now he spoke up.

"And how was she stronger and faster than you if she was you?" he asked.

"That bit is actually one of the few bits that makes sense to me," said Angel. "You get two demons that had had the same experienced, are the same breed, the same height, the same age, train at the same gym for all I care, and almost always the more evil one will be the stronger. Something to do with the whole determination to rule the world thing or something."

They were all sitting or standing around in my living room, firing off ideas and questions with speed to rival 'evil me'. I was curled up in the corner of a couch, listening to but not engaging in the conversation. I'd already had to relive the dream for them three times now, and I no longer had the will to talk. Wow, talk about first time ever.

"Okay, we need to take this one question at a time," said Angel. "First, how were you duplicated? We can't do anything else until we figure that out and try to stop it. If we fail, then we move on to the next point."

There was a chorus of agreement from the rest of them and before I knew it they were formulating a plan. It was then that I zoned out. I couldn't be stuffed thinking right now. Connor knelt down in front of me.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

I could see the worry in his but, but it was coupled with pain and hurt. It had to be taking him a huge amount of self-control and compassion to be being nice to me. I could have snapped at him, but he was trying to be nice to me, so I decided it wouldn't kill me to be nice to him.

"No," I squeaked. "How can I possibly okay? I just saw me murder myself."

Connor reached towards me, then his hand fell back by his side.

"It's gonna be okay Mirany," he said. "We're gonna figure this one out. We're gonna stop this one."

He looked so sure that what he was saying was true. Until then I hadn't realised just how much he had loved me. Even now, after I had turned down his proposal, and then tore into him just two weeks ago, he still cared for me.

"You're gonna be okay," he said.

I nodded silently.

"Are you two still with us?" asked Angel.

We both looked up.

"Mirany and I, we're going patrolling. See if we can't gather some information. Might be able to find something useful," said Angel. "The rest of you are going around town. Go to local demon haunts, see if you can get anything. Don't go to Dan's. Mirany's shotgunned it."

"Alright then," said Connor, shaking my shoulder encouragingly. "Have fun."

Angel waited until the rest of them had left before sitting down beside me.

"Are you up to this?" he asked.

I took a shaky breath.

"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, I can do this."

"It was just a dream Mirany," said Angel. "Prophetic or not, we're not gonna let it come true."

"Yeah, okay. Let's do this," I said.

...

"You're still shaking," Angel commented.

"You're still a vampire," I returned.

"You're not scared, are you?" asked Angel.

"Don't try to bait me Angel, I know what you're trying to do," I said.

"What am I trying to do?" asked Angel curiously.

"You're trying to snap me out of it by making me all pissed off and like my normal self," I said.

"Your normal self is more enjoyable than your depressed self," said Angel.

"You're not enjoyable at all," I snapped.

"Neither of you are enjoyable," said a voice from nearby.

Angel and I both turned around. Three vampires came from behind a crypt.

"You're one to talk," said Angel, fingering his stake.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said the lead vampire, glancing around us.

I looked around and saw that fighting wasn't about to become an option. There were vampires surrounding us from all sides, and none of them looked like the newly-risen of sorts.

"It's unfortunate that you're accompanied Slayer, but it doesn't make things any harder," said the vampire.

"You want me then take me, but leave him," I said. "I need someone to rescue me."

Angel rolled his eyes.

"Take them both, but don't be gentle."

The vampire smirked.

"It's not like they need to know where they're going."

Angel looked like he was going to fight anyway, but I was more geared towards flight against these numbers. It was just too bad that I couldn't go anywhere without being tackled by at least five of the things. The vampires dived, all we could do was yell.

...

I woke up, cold and sore, and of course, hanging from the ceiling, maybe a foot above the ground. At least it was new, but I didn't particularly like this way of keep me captive. With any luck my arms would just drop off and I'd be able to get out of here, unlikely though. I couldn't see through the darkness around me, but I could hear everything that was going on somewhere nearby.

"LET ME GO! WHERE IS SHE? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER?"

There was no mistaking angel's furious voice. Apparently he had either been awake longer than me, or hadn't even been knocked out.

"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF ME! I SWEAR IF YOU DON'T LET US GO I'LL MAKE YOU WISH YOU WERE WELL AND TRULY DEAD!"

The shouting was getting louder, and a moment later a door from behind me had opened. Light flooded the room as overhead lamps were lit. It wasn't so much of a room as a warehouse, a completely bare warehouse, except for the hanging ornament which was me. I could hear scuffling behind me and soon Angel was being dragged into sight. He was struggling, rather unsuccessfully against two very beefy vampires, who looked like the sort of vampires that tore fingers from people to send messages. Shudder. Another group of vampires was making their way into my line of sight now. All of them were wearing long black robes with hoods over their faces, but I could still see their fangs. They placed various strange and unpleasant looking items in a circle a few metres away from me, all muttering some sort of other language as one of them drew a chalk line connecting them all. Two of the vampires, still muttering, walked up to me and I tried to kick out at them, but without anything to balance on, it didn't do much but make my arms burn in protest. The vampires cut the ropes around my wrists and I fell to the floor. Before I could gain the use of my feet however, I was being dragged towards the circle, struggling just as much, if not more, than Angel was.

"LET HER GO! WHAT ARE DOING? LET HER GO!"

Unlike Angel, I had a pretty good idea of what they were doing. This spell looked bad, the sort of bad that might bring about another, far more evil and far stronger, me. The vampires all but threw me into the circle and I wasted no time in trying to dash away, but at the edge of the chalk circle I was propelled back into the centre by some invisible forcefield. I should have known really. I could see Angel yelling, but I couldn't hear him, and if I had have been able to get out, they would have just made the circle around me when I had been hanging. I couldn't hear anything, outside of my own loud objections, until the vampires all stood behind an item each and began to chant. I heard that just fine, and it sent shivers right through me. A knife was being passed around the circle, the vampires cutting into their arms and dropping blood in the circle in front of them. As the first drop hit the floor, pain raked through me, and again with the second, then the third, until my body was just one big blur of agonizing, blinding pain.

I feel to the floor, fists and jaw clenched, eyes shut tight, writhing. And then...nothing.

_I'm dead. I have to be dead. No one could survive that._

But I knew I wasn't. I heard yelling but I didn't open my eyes. I wanted to stay right where I was, curled in a ball, until all sources of agony vanished. Someone laid a hand on my shoulder and I opened my eyes, looking up at Angel.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

There was cold laughter from behind him and I saw over his shoulder myself, walking towards us.

"I am Ariel," she said. "You are the one I am created from?"

She flexed fingers that exactly resembled mine.

"You are weak," she said. "But you have...qualities. You are not human."

I flinched slightly. I _was_ human, just not _all_ human.

"Wolf," said Ariel. "There is some potential in a body like yours after all."

She stared straight into my eyes.

"You are my rival," she said bluntly.

"Why?" I asked softly.

Angel was thrown into the wall as she shoved him away from me. I scrambled away from her but to little affect. What had I expected? I wasn't faster than her when I was running full pelt, how could I be faster than her on my hands and knees? She seized my jaw and pulled my face up close to hers.

"Why?" she growled. "Because there isn't room in this world for the both of us, and I will not take advantage of the handicapped. You are not strong at the moment. The next time we meet Slayer, you will be ready."

I swallowed. She let me go and got to her feet.

"Until then Slayer," she said over her shoulder. "Do not disappoint me."

She was gone before I could bring myself to speak. I struggled to my feet and went over to Angel, who was rubbing his head where he had hit it.

"Ow," he muttered, getting to his feet. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. He stared after Ariel.

"You're gonna need some serious training," he commented.

...

"It's lucky she gave you her name, or we'd never have been able to tell the two of you apart," said Cordelia.

I scowled at her.

"What sort of a name is Ariel?" I muttered resentfully. "No one with my body should ever be named after the Little Mermaid."

"Then why didn't you just kill her when you had the chance?" asked Lilah.

I glared at her.

"Do you have any idea what it was like?" I asked. "I'm lucky to be alive after that spell, let alone after she had talked to me. I couldn't do anything more than what adrenaline helped me do."

"Adrenaline," Lilah scoffed. "It wasn't adrenaline running through your blood Mirany. It was fear."

"I WASN'T SCARED!" I yelled at her.

"Okay, break it up," said Angel wearily. "Sibling rivalry another time alright?"

Lilah and I glared at each other but nodded. And to think we ever thought we'd be able to get along.

"Did she say anything that led you to believe that there might have been some writings on this?" asked Wesley.

"Uh, no," I said. "But the vampires weren't exactly chanting gibberish. Maybe look into some god-chic or something called Ariel. Can't hurt."

"Yes well, easier said than done," said Connor, waving one of Wesley's tombs at me. "He had millions of these and basically no filing system at all."

"Well, I don't think the Dewy Decimal System is going to cut it with ancient volumes," said Angel, amused.

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm taking you home," said Angel, pulling me to my feet. "You can get some rest and we'll start looking tomorrow."

"No!" I said firmly, pulling my arm from his grip. "No! I'm going to...to stay here and help."

But Angel wasn't the only one who thought I needed rest.

"Angel's right Mirany," said Wesley. "That spell could have done all sorts of things to you. Sleep it off. We're still going to be looking tomorrow. Trust me. We can never have too much information."

I opened my mouth to protest again, but Connor and Lilah had joined in now and were giving me very pointed looks.

"Fine," I muttered. "I guess I'll go home then."

"Good," said Angel, pushing me out of the hotel.

"But can we stop off at Dan's and...?"

"No."

...

"Mirany," said Angel disapprovingly, taking the laptop out of my hands before I could launch it. "What don't you understand about the concept of sleep?"

"The part where I have to do nothing for up to and including twelve hours while some psycho bitch with my body goes around murdering people!" I said angrily.

"You don't know what she's going to do," said Angel.

"No, but if she does murder someone and the police happen to get involved, she's not the one that's going to get arrested," I said pointedly.

"Somehow the police will be able to tie you to anything she does," said Angel.

I ignored him, walking out of the room and down to my father's study, browsing the bookshelves as I tried to find something that might be of use. Angel followed and grabbed my hand as I went to pull a book down from the shelf. I glared at him, but he remained defiant.

"Mirany, go to bed," he said firmly.

"No, I have to..."

"You know as well as I do that you're making this up," said Angel. "Either give me the real reason why you won't sleep or go to sleep."

I stared at him. Since when had he become so good at reading me?

"I don't want to have that dream again," I said quietly. "I don't want to feel that scared again."

Angel glanced over my face for a moment before lowering my hand.

"It's okay to be scared Mirany," he said. "It's part of being human."

I chuckled darkly.

"But I'm not human," I said hollowly. "She said it herself."

"You _are_ human Mirany," said Angel. "Just not the most normal of the lot, But like a human, you need to sleep, or the next time you see her she might not be so generous about the handicapped thing."

"I'm not handicapped!" I snapped.

"Not yet but if you don't sleep you will be!" said Angel just as angrily.

I glared at him.

"Then I guess you're just gonna have to make me," I challenged.

Angel sighed.

"Mirany, there's something you know about blood bonds," he said. "A vampire who has a blood bond with a human..."

I found my arms wrapping around his neck without me telling them to, not that I was going to complain.

"...can control that human if necessary," said Angel.

I swallowed as his arms wrapped gently around my waist.

"I can get inside your head," he said. "I can make you do what I want. If I was still evil, I would. But I'm not going to take your freewill."

"Then why are my arms around your neck?" I asked.

Angel raised an eyebrow.

"Because you haven't taken them away," he said.

I swallowed.

"Oh," I muttered.

I held my breath as he leant towards me. His mouth brushed mine so briefly I wasn't sure if it had actually happened.

"Now," he said. "Go to sleep, or I'll make you. We will deal with Ariel tomorrow."


	26. Let the Game's Begin Part 1

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**From now on until I say again, the chapters will be just one week apart. This is also Angel's point of view, which I'm only telling you because it's kinda hard to gleam at the start. So enjoy and review :)**

* * *

_**"Nitwit! Blubbler! Oddment! Tweak!" - immortal words from Albus Dumbledore**_

* * *

"Okay, look, I knew there's an evil me somewhere out there probably doing something terrible, and I know I have slaying duties, and I know I was irresponsible and blah, blah, blah, refer to lecture you gave me last night, but all I asked for was one night off. Just one," said Mirany angrily, storming into the lobby and pulling a pair of high heels off her feet at the same time. "Now there had better be a darn good reason for you to call me away from a party at the White House. I'm lucky the President still thinks I can have 'family emergencies.' I just don't think he realizes that when I say my family isn't here anymore, that I'm actually saying they're dead. I think he thinks I'm just saying they're in a different country at the moment or something."

I didn't reply. None of us did. We were all too busy staring, and gaping in Cordelia's case. Mirany looked at us, confused.

"What?" she asked.

No response.

"What?" she asked, rubbing the back of her neck self-consciously. "Have I grown an extra limb or something? What?"

Cordelia came to her senses first.

"Who knew you could scrub up so well?" she asked, walking around Mirany, examining her from every angle.

Connor and I looked at each other, still dumbfounded, then back at Mirany. She was dressed in an impeccable black satin dress, which hung off one shoulder and ended halfway up her calves, clinging to her body. Her hair was tied in an intricate knot at the top of her head, and though she had just taken them off...she had heels. Never in my life had I ever expected to see her like this.

"Put the heels back on," Cordelia instructed, looking carefully at a pendant on the end of a gold chain around Mirany's neck. "Let me see the full image."

"This is why you're all looking at me like complete idiots?" asked Mirany exasperatedly. "Because I own something other than jeans?"

"No, they're looking at you like complete idiots because you're _wearing_ something other than jeans," said Cordelia. "It's not unbelievable that you would own a dress, but we never thought we'd see you wear one. Also, they might be looking at you like that because you look absolutely gorgeous."

"Yeah well, take a number," Mirany muttered. "Many eligible guys that are much more sophisticated and higher up on the food chain than you wanna see what's under this dress as well."

"Just because they're more sophisticated than us doesn't mean you like them," Connor pointed out. "It just means they talk about the economy rather than whether to slay vampires or demons."

Mirany blinked.

"Don't change the subject," she snapped.

"He didn't," I said, amused. She knew she had been trumped, but she would never, ever admit to it. "And for your information, I did have a good reason from dragging you away from all those fascinating people."

"They may be boring but where do you think I get all my contacts from?" asked Mirany pointedly.

"Optometrist?" Cordelia guessed.

"Funny," said Mirany sarcastically.

"Actually it was 'pun-ny,' but it's alright. I'll let you slide just this once," said Cordelia, smirking.

"And you wonder why I try to minimize my time with you," Mirany muttered, sitting down and looking at me expectantly as she massaged her feet. "God damn heels. So, what's this very, very good reason?"

I tossed the evening newspaper to her.

"You seen this?" I asked.

Mirany glanced down at the picture and blanched.

"Ah," she said shakily. That seemed to be all she could say.

The picture showed a very grizzly murder scene with police all over it. Four bodies, all drained dry, and one very obvious message written on the wall in what could only be assumed as blood from the black and white photograph; 'STOP ME SLAYER'.

"What I don't get is how she can drain all their blood but still write that message," said Cordelia. "She has no blood to use."

Mirany stared at her.

"Not really a big issue," said Cordelia, catching on. "Sorry."

"Alright," said Mirany. "Give me an hour, I'll be back here. We can go beat things up."

I slapped her on the shoulder encouragingly.

"That's what I wanna hear," I said enthusiastically. "One hour. Go."

"You're driving," said Mirany at once.

"Since when?" I asked.

"Since I refuse to drive in bare feet and now is not the time to attempt driving in heels," said Mirany simply. "Come on, clock's ticking."

...

"You looked better in the dress," I said as Mirany stalked up to the door of Dan's bar.

"You'd look better in a coffin," she retorted.

"It was a compliment," I said.

"Not to me it wasn't," said Mirany.

The door banged off its hinges as she kicked it open. I flinched. She was getting far too much pleasure from this. The demons and people around the bar scattered. Even the non-regulars seemed to know better than to get in Mirany's way. Dan certainly did. He had nearly jumped out of his skin when the door opened and he was looking very, very nervous. I decided not to get involved and leant against the wall, watching.

"Ah, Mirany," said Dan carefully, backing slowly into the island behind the bar. "You don't think you could do this outside, could you?"

I noticed the whole pub was completely silent. It was certainly a first for me, didn't appear to be a first for Mirany. In fact, she looked right at home. She vaulted over the bar and sat on the counter.

"How are ya Dan?" she asked.

_Not quite the same route I would have taken, _I commented.

_Shut up._

Dan was looking at Mirany cautiously.

"Uh...good," he said.

"Really? That's good. Well, enjoy it while it lasts. Not gonna be very long."

Dan backed right up against the wall as the wall as Mirany hoped off the counter.

"Tell me, heard anything on grapevine of interest Danny boy?" she asked.

"What would you deem interesting?" asked Dan shakily.

Mirany snatched up her stake and flung it behind her into the chest of a vampire that was sneaking up on her. I could have taken it, but she seemed to enjoy the excuse to show off some more.

"Damn leeches," she muttered.

_Hey. I'm a part of those 'damn leeches.'_

Mirany ignored me

"Anyway, what was I talking about?" she asked Dan. "Oh right, the grapevine."

"Mirany, I don't know anything," said Dan fervently.

"See..."

Mirany took hold of his hair and pulled it towards her. He yelped but didn't try to resist. A smart choice in my opinion. I was so very glad that I could stop her before she ever did that to me.

"...I just don't think that's true."

"What do you want to know?" he squeaked.

Mirany threw him back against the wall. A couple of bottles fell from the shelves, one falling right on top of his head. She jumped back up on the counter, standing up this time, addressing the whole bar as she held up the newspaper.

"Anyone who knows something, anything, about what happened here, or about a vampire with red eyes, abnormal amount of strength, goes by the name of Ariel, thinks she's all that..."

_Like you?_

"Like you?" Dan muttered, imitating me without even knowing it.

"Shut up."

I was quite sure she wasn't just addressing Dan.

"...you know, evil stuff, should tell me about it right now before I start throwing things," she finished.

"You could have just said so," said Dan. "Couple of people have been talking about such a person."

"She's not a person, she's a blood sucker, and I'm putting a price on her head," said Mirany, getting off the counter as the occupants of the bar slowly returned to their conversations and I finally joined her again. "What do you know?"

"You really enjoy the whole beating me to a pulp thing, don't you?" asked Dan.

"It has it's moments," Mirany conceeded. "So do tell, what's the word?"

"From what I can deem from snippets of conversation, some super powerful chick is out to create some ranks," said Dan. "Looking for muscle. And, as you already know, looking for you. I don't know where, I don't know why, but I do know that you left something out in the description."

Mirany remained stony faced.

"And I'll tell you why I know," said Dan. "Because, and this is the kicker, she was in here last night."

I perked up, Mirany growled.

"Why didn't you tell me this before I let a glass bottle smash on your head?" she snarled.

"Because I thought I'd give you the chance to have a little fun first," said Dan sarcastically. "I didn't know you were looking for her."

"What'd she do?" I asked.

"Almost exactly the same thing you did," said Dan. "Came in, beat me up a little, asked for you."

"Did you tell her anything?" asked Mirany.

"Only stuff that she wouldn't be able to get anything out of," said Dan.

"Like what?" Mirany growled.

"Oh, you know, that you like the bar, which she already knew, what you're favourite colour was, which I made up by the way, best way to get you drunk..."

"Okay, stop," I said. "Did she say anything else?"

"Told the whole bar she was holding tryouts. Be at some place tonight."

Mirany held up the newspaper again.

"Here per chance?" she asked.

Dan nodded.

"That'd be the place. You know, I thought she was you right until she asked about you. She looked completely normal. Then when she asked about you, suddenly she had red eyes and fangs."

"So she can transform," I muttered. "Just like any other vampire."

"More than that," said Dan. "She can go from vampire to human. Completely. While she was human, she was warm and everything, no sign that she was a vampire. Nearly scared the living daylights out of me when she changed."

"Which means that while she's human, she doesn't have the barriers a vampire has," sighed Mirany. "She can go into places uninvited, she can go out in the sun...damn."

"And when she was talking to the rest of the bar, her eyes were yellow and all her teeth were pointy," said Dan.

Mirany stared at me.

"How come she can control it but I can't?" she asked.

I shrugged.

"Maybe 'cause she's a vampire. Maybe she's just good at controlling things."

Mirany sighed.

"I'm never, ever going to be able to do it," she muttered. "Well Dan, thanks for the info."

"She said...one last thing," said Dan carefully as Mirany turned away.

"I'm judging by your hesitation that it wasn't good," I said.

"She um...she told me to tell you that she'll see you at the pier near here," said Dan. "Tomorrow night."

I snorted.

"She most certainly will not," I said.

"Why not?" asked Mirany.

I stared at her.

"You can't be serious," I said. "If it could scream 'trap' any louder you'd likely go deaf."

"Did she say anything about what she would do if she didn't see me?" Mirany asked, ignoring me.

Dan nodded slowly.

"Dan," I said warningly. "Don't."

"She said she'll kill again, and keep killing, until you face up to her," he said.

"We're going," said Mirany shortly, turning away.

"You had to tell her," I hissed at Dan. "As though it wasn't obvious already. You had to rub it in."

I hurried after Mirany and found her waiting outside the now door-less door way.

"You're not going," I said adamantly.

"You can't stop me!" said Mirany angrily. "She'll keep killing!"

"Mirany...she's a vampire!" I said pointedly. "Of course she'll keep killing! Which vampire doesn't kill?"

"If I can stop this..." started Mirany.

"Don't be an idiot," I snapped. "This is precisely what she wants. You're going to walk right into her trap. She is _you_ Mirany. She knows how you think. She knows how to get to you. You can't go. You'll be walking straight into the lion's mouth."

"I can't not go!" Mirany retaliated. "The long I put her off, the more pissed off she's going to get, the more people she's going to kill and the more time she has to come up with a fool-proof plan. She's only had my mind for a week! She can't know everything about me yet!"

"You wanna test that?" I asked.

"How do you propose we do that without going to the pier?" asked Mirany pointedly.

I reached into her mind and she shuddered.

"Your greatest weakness is having a weak mind," I said. "I can pull anything I want from it and I'm not even inside your head. In one week, she can know absolutely everything there is to know about you. Every weak spot, every strength. You know what I found out about you?"

Mirany looked apprehensive.

"The fact that you can't swim," I said. "And yet here you are saying that you're going to go to the pier tomorrow night to meet an enemy who knows you back to front and that you're not going to be walking into a trap. _You_ may hide things away in your mind. You may not even know that some things are there, but Ariel is no ordinary vampire Mirany. She knows you. You can't go."

"I can swim," Mirany muttered. "Just not...well."

"I can't believe I'm having this argument with you," I said. "You're a smart girl Mirany. Don't blind yourself just because someone said they're going to kill someone. She's a vampire. It's what she's designed to do."

"I am a smart girl," Mirany agreed. "Which is why I know that if I can't swim, neither can she."

"Maybe," said Angel. "Or maybe she has her own brain and has learnt how to swim at some point. Also, she doesn't need to breathe."

Mirany fell silent.

"Mirany I'm begging you," I said. "Don't go."

"And if I say no?" asked Mirany.

"Then I'll stop begging and start forcing," I said. "Just because I don't like it doesn't mean I won't."

"I think you're missing a crucial point in what she said," said Mirany. "She didn't say 'come to the pier', she said 'I'll see you at the pier'. I'm thinking whether I want to or not, I might end up there anyway."

"If you end up there, you end up there, and you deal with it," I said. "But if you can avoid this, avoid it."

Mirany looked torn. I sighed.

"Mirany, what is it going to take to get it through that thick skull?" I snapped. "You can't go. You're walking into a trap. People will die anyway. We'll think of something else."

"I could end her," said Mirany fervently. "It could be the end of her tomorrow night, and then we could move on."

"Do you know how hard it is to fight yourself?" I asked. "And not just yourself, but a super version of yourself. You can't fight her. You're not ready."

"I'll be the judge of whether I'm ready or not!" Mirany snarled.

I rolled my eyes.

"Fine," I said. "I give up. If you want to go and get yourself killed, then you do that. Oh, just one thing though. You dying isn't going to help the people she'll kill after she's finished with you."

Mirany growled.

"I'm not going to get myself killed!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't catch the part where you had an ingenious plan to stop your far-more-powerful-than-you evil twin who knows you better than you know yourself apparently and survive in the process," I said sarcastically. "Maybe you could run me through this plan then?"

And finally it seemed to be sinking in.

_Took her time._

Mirany flopped against the wall and sank to the ground.

"What do I do?" she asked, looking up at me with desperation in her eyes, along with a slightly yellowish tinge.

"First of all, you stand up," I said, pulling her to her feet. "You're no use to anyone if you've given up already. And then we need to get blood into you."

Mirany groaned.

"Don't say that," she said. "Just...don't."

"I figure you'd rather not under the watchful gaze of Dan," I said, gesturing at the bartender through the window.

Mirany glanced back at him.

"Sounds good," she said quickly, pulling me away from the pub.

...

**ARIEL**

The mansion was lit up, as it had been every single night for the past week, whether she was there or not. In my time, if you weren't in the house, the house of dark. Just how long had passed since I had fallen? When I had woken up, it didn't look particularly different since the last time. I had chosen a different name again though. Ariel. Not what I thought I'd ever name myself, but I didn't mind it. It had just sort of come to me. I was still annoyed at the vampire that had told me I should have called myself Medusa. Well, he got what was coming for him.

Such a strange body she had left me with. With all my other bodies, I had had the choice of human or vampire, but this one...there were so many things I could be. Human, wolf, vampire or slayer. So many to choose from, so little time. I had to thank her for that. The freedom to be able to go from so many different types of person was new and refreshing.

But this body had it's drawbacks too. I couldn't go many places without being noticed by someone, though anything I said didn't seem to make them suspicious. I love it when they're nasty anyway. And the wolf didn't seem to know it's place. It kept trying to take me over. Ugh, I hate pushy wolves. I was glad to be a vampire. I seemed to have total control over it when I was in my true form.

The girl's memories were all over the place. She'd had such a wacked out life it was hard to discern what she had enjoyed or not after her parents had died. What I did know though, was that she had killed. Such an easy target. Once a killer, always a killer, even if she had tried to overcome it. Oh, I would make the killer in her come out again. That was my first goal. Second of course was to delete her from existance. Slowly. She was powerful, even if she was stupid. With the right help, she could defeat me, and I was not going to fall again. I had no one left who was smart enough to wake me up if I was defeated this time. I had to get rid of the problem.

I don't know exactly how long I stood outside her window before she and that teddy bear of a vampire noticed me, but it wasn't particularly long. They may have noticed me long before, I couldn't see properly through the reflective glass, and I only knew they were there because I had managed to get here right before the car drew up. I certainly wasn't going to peer through the window. I heard the front door slam and smiled. Here she came, heroic and brave, flanked by her bodyguard. They were both holding swords. Pathetic pieces of metal. So...bendable.

"What are you doing here?" she growled.

I smirked at them.

"What am I doing here?" I repeated. "I'm insulted Slayer. I live here."

"No you don't," she snarled. "I do."

"And who are you if not me, just as I am you?"

"YOU'RE NOTHING LIKE ME!"

I giggled.

"Temper, temper," I muttered. "I'm going to have fun with you Slayer."

She looked like she wanted to tear me to shread, but she didn't seem to be able to move. The vampire spoke.

"Leave," he said calmly.

I gave him a sweeping look, trying to assess just how much of a danger he was. I wasn't particularly knowledgable about blood bonds. I couldn't imagine ever having one with someone. To have a human live off me...ugh. Disgusting. However, I was curious as to just how strong the bond was between them and if it was strong enough that he would even be able to control me to a point.

"You know what I really hate?" I asked him. "Vampires that double-cross their own kind. And you, well, you certainly fall into that category, don't you?"

I bounced up to him, despite the sword. Like he would ever be able to kill me. I was enjoying this. The first stages, where I got to play with their heads.

"Oh yes Angelus, the Slayer's read up on you. You were quite the menace in your time, were you not. But to think that you had the nerve to kill your own sire. Now there's a crime against vampires if ever I saw one."

The vampire stiffened.

"I'd watch your back around her if I were you," I continued, gesturing at the girl. "You don't know it, but there's quite the conpiracy going round in her mind concerning you. I'd think twice before you let her run rampard with a stake."

"What?" she snarled.

"I hope you two will join in my little game," I said, ignoring her. "I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It's sure to be lots of fun."

With that, I took off before they could reply, eyes glowing red, fangs bared. I was hungry.

...

**ANGEL**

Mirany and I stared after her.

"Angel, I would never..." started Mirany. "Not unless..."

"I know you're not planning to kill me Mirany or you'd have done it already," I said. "But you're prepared to."

I turned to her.

"Which is good."

I looked back at the place where Ariel had been. I had to hand it to her, she had nerve. Standing casually in enemy territory, it was basically putting a bullet through your head. But she seemed completely carefree, like she didn't care what happened to her. It was all a part of the game. I'd gotten the same vibe from her when she had declared to Mirany that they were enemies. She just seemed to be making it up as she went along. She needed an enemy, and Mirany had been right there.

"So she's got a game planned for us then?" I wondered aloud.

"Yeah, with her own rules," Mirany muttered. "Why couldn't she have just waited till tomorrow? It's not as if she needs to get to know her enemy or something."

"I don't know," I admitted. "To tell us about her game maybe? Who knows? I don't think even she does. I've never met someone like that. Did you notice? She was like a really smart, really evil six year old. She was completely carefree in the way she acted and seemed a little...immature. Even her voice. It was your's but more kid-like, if you get my drift. Excitable or something."

"So she's accessed her inner child, so what?" asked Mirany grumpily. "It would certainly explain why she's such a monster. But why do you care? Right now I'm a little more focused on the fact that she's playing with us."

"I guess we're going to have to play her game then," I said.

Mirany didn't seem all too happy about that.

"This could turn very, very ugly, very, very quickly," she said.

"We'll just have to take that risk," I said. "Personality of someone with no care in the world...do you remember what you were like when you were six?"

"No, but I would assume I was a little terror," said Mirany. "Anything I didn't get that I wanted I probably would have brought up quite the tantrum."

"Exactly," I said. "I reckon if we don't give her what she wants, she'll get even worse. Assuming of course that she knows what she wants."

"I'm gonna go with our heads on stakes," said Mirany.

"My point," I said firmly, "is that she's not just about to stop if we don't do what she wants us to."

Mirany swallowed.

"Until tomorrow then," she said hollowly.

***** AUTHOR'S NOTE *****

**Cliffhanger! I figure if Doctor Who's going to have them, then I'm going to have them too...just because I can :P Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one. It was fun to write. So review and I'll get another one up soon :)**


	27. Let the Games Begin Part 2

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**This one is set right after the last one for obvious reasons, unless you have just joined us and have decided to read this chapter only, in which case I would tell you that that's a weird idea which I don't understand and that it would benefit you greatly to go back and start from the beginning. But anyway, I'm rambling. Enjoy and review. Don't forget to give me your favourite quotes :)**

* * *

_**"If there's so much I must be, can I still just be me, the way I am? Can I trust in my own heart, or am I just one part of some big plan?" - Kiara (Lion King 2)**_

* * *

Mirany mumbled incomprehensibly as I tried to shake her awake and she rolled further away from me.

"'O away An'el," she slurred.

"Get up," I ordered.

Mirany growled.

"Mirany, I have slashes all over my arms that you are going to answer for, there is a homicidal maniac of a vampire out there who's about fifty million times stronger than you, and I feel like pisisng you off. Get. Up."

I did feel like pissing her off. She had managed to attack me last night because she had refused to just take my blood when I had told her to, and she did need to train. Ariel was out there, stronger and frankly, much smarter than Mirany, and she was looking for trouble. At the moment, Mirany didn't stand a chance against her, physically or mentally. Since Ariel's 'visit' last night, I had spent the entire night trying to figure out how to deal with someone like her, and I had come out of my musing with zero ideas. As I had told Mirany last night, I had never met someone like Ariel, and I hated to admit it, but it did scare me how little Ariel seemed to care about anything except her game.

"I don't care, I'll deal with it later, and I can piss you off just as much," Mirany reeled off, pulling the covers over her head.

I scowled.

"Don't make me force you," I said warningly.

"You wouldn't dare," came Mirany's muffled voice.

The gashes in my arms said otherwise. Mirany yelled in protest as I physically pulled her out of bed and then out of the room, dropping her on the couch outside.

"I hate you," Mirany growled. "I really, really hate you."

"I get that," I said casually. "Alright. Training. Get dressed, I want you in the gym in ten minutes."

"And here I was thinking I was the one that gave the orders around here," Mirany muttered.

...

Mirany groaned as she rolled onto her stomach, but her arms gave out when she tried to push herself back to her feet.

"Enough," she gasped. "Enough."

She dragged herself up to the wall and leant her back against it, coughing up blood.

"You are not trying," I said firmly. "She will tear you in half."

Mirany was looking at me as though she'd never seen me before.

"You've always been this strong?" she asked.

I nodded. Mirany hit her head against the wall behind her and coughed again.

"I'm trying as hard as I can," she wheezed. "Maybe I'm just not strong enough."

"Mirany you're NOT TRYING!" I yelled. "YOU ARE THE SLAYER! YOU ARE STRONGER THAN ME YOU JUST CAN'T SEEM TO FIND THE MOTIVATION TO SHOW IT!"

"I AM TRYING!" Mirany yelled back. "YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! YOU'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND!"

With a sudden surge of energy she was back on her feet again and storming out of the room.

"Mirany!" I called, hurrying after her, but she had already disappeared.

...

I found Mirany in her father's study, sittting curled in his chair, tears running silently down her face. I crouched in front of her, looking at her expectantly. She looked away from me.

"I'm listening Mirany," I said.

"I'm eighteen," said Mirany. "I'm not even an adult yet but here I am with people's lives in my hands. How do I cope with that? I'm not a superhero. I'm not fearless, I'm not brave. I've killed people. And for all the good I've done, I'm still not noticed for it. And now I'm expected to stand up against someone I can't possibly beat. How is that fair?"

"It's not," I said simply. "And it shouldn't have happened. But it has. And I know you can cope Mirany."

Mirany shook her head.

"I told you you wouldn't understand and you don't," she said.

"So help me," I said. "Mirany, the reason you know me is because I wanted to help. I still want to help."

"I can't make you understand! You'll never understand! You can't possibly understand because you're not..."

Mirany caught herself before she finished her sentence, but I knew what she was going to say.

"I still have compassion and empathy Mirany. Just because my heart's not beating doesn't mean it's cold."

Mirany stared at me, but she wasn't really seeing me. Her eyes were glazed over and her expression was far away.

"When I first found out I was the Slayer, I didn't know what to expect," she said softly. "But I had mum and dad. They told me what to do. They guided me through those first few years. Then when they were gone...I lost myself. I lost the Slayer. I lost everything that mattered..."

She blinked and came back down to here and now.

"...and I don't think I've ever gotten it back," she said. "They made my decisions for me. Everything was simple. I knew what I was doing, but I never, ever felt pressured to do it. Now I have to make these decisions on my own but I don't seem to have a choice. And I don't think I've ever found myself. There's so much that I have to fight against. I have duties and obligations. Back then I knew in my heart that what I was doing was right. But now, even though I'm still fighting the good fight, it doesn't feel right anymore. I can't even trust myself to make the right decisions. And if I made the wrong call back then, I could fix it. I could always fix it. If I make the wrong call now people will die. Why did it change?"

I wasn't entirely sure I was following, but I was pretty sure I had gotten the gist of it.

"I think it's called growing up," I said.

Mirany looked at me sadly.

"Then is it alright if I stop now?" she asked.

...

**ARIEL**

It was well and truly past sunset by the time the two 'heroes' showed up. I smelt them arrive. And again with the bloody swords. Did they honestly believe I was that weak? It threw me off slightly that they had both come however. My invitation hadn't extended to plus ones, but it wasn't hard to adapt. I hadn't actually decided on the finer points of my plan. Plans were for people who wanted order. I couldn't care less. If you don't have a plan, it can't be foiled.

I was sitting at the end of the pier, overlooking the sea as I heard them draw closer. I couldn't believe she had actually come. Unable to swim and yet willing to risk her life just to save one or two people from dying. Ha, the stupid girl. What was the point? True, killing her wasn't exactly what I wanted to do here tonight, but I wouldn't be upset if it happened.

"So glad you could make it Slayer," I said as I heard them close by. "I was beginning to wonder if you were planning on coming."

"What, and miss out on the party? You don't know me very well," she said.

She was trying to sound brave, but the quiver in her voice gave away her fear. And her scent. Fear was such a strong scent, and right now it was filling my lungs. They were both fearful, but it was quite clear which one thought they were going to die tonight.

"And you brought a date too, how lovely," I said sarcastically. "Although you won't mind then if I invite a friend or two along as well."

I clicked my fingers and heard the scuffle behind me. I stood up and turned to smile cruelly at the girl. The vampire was being held by two of my thugs. As far as thugs went, I didn't have a great many who had much experience as far as being a vampire went, but these two were beefy, even if they weren't bright. The girl's grip on her sword was so tight that she was putting dents in the hilt.

"Oh, you won't be needing that," I said.

She blinked, and that was all the time I needed. She cried out in pain as I forced her to let go of the metal and threw it into the water below. The vampire growled.

"Touch her again and I'll kill you," he threatened.

He was funny, I'll give him that much. It took me a few seconds to recover from my laughter.

"I'm sorry," I choked. "I thought you just threatened me."

I came right up to him, yellow eyes, claws itching to rip into him. I snapped my teeth at him.

"Something I'm sure you would never be stupid enough to do," I said darkly.

He tried to break free of Muscle 1 and Muscle 2's grip, but neither were letting go. Now all they needed were matching blue-striped pyjamas. The girl was frozen in place, either through fear or self-preservation I wasn't sure, but she glared at me as I rounded around her.

"You've given me quite the interesting body you know," I said conversationally, flicking at her hair.

She flinched.

"Yes, I can be a wolf, I can be human, I can be vampire...I can even be slayer."

I went through every change as I spoke. She stared at me in shock as the slayer within me took over.

"Although it's amusing that you can't access any one of these compeltely yourself," I said. "Makes my job much, much easier when they never know what they really are."

Stake up her sleeve, knife at her ankle. Having the eyes of an ancient warrior paid off every now and then.

"I know I'm better than you, that's all that matters," she grunted.

I raised my eyebrows.

"Ooh, strong words for such a weak person," I said.

"I'm not weak."

"'Then when they were gone...I lost myself. I lost the Slayer. I lost everything that mattered.'"

She was getting angrier, but I continued to reel off what she had said earlier today. She really needed to soundproof her walls.

"'...and I don't think I've ever gotten it back. There's so much that I have to fight against. I have duties and obligations. Back then I knew in my heart that what I was doing was right. But now, even though I'm still fighting the good fight, it doesn't feel right anymore...'"

"ENOUGH!" she snarled.

I thought it would have taken at least a little bit longer, but no. She was so fragile that she broke just seconds after I had started. She dived at me, sending us both straight off the edge of the narrow pier and into the water. Her timing couldn't have been more perfect. High tide had come and the waves were huge as we struggled against each other.

"MIRANY!"

She was at the disadvantage. Not only could she not swim, but in water she couldn't breathe either. As a vampire, I had no need to breathe and I took advantage of that, pulling her under waves and deeper into the dark waters. I knew when she was running out of breath. She become desperate, and far stronger for perhaps two seconds before she grew very, very weak. I let her go and let the tide do the rest, swimming away under the water to avoid being followed by her vampire.

...

**ANGEL**

Mirany dived at Ariel and sent them both tumbling straight over the edge of the pier. I heard the splashes and the yells as they struggled to gain the upper hand. Two guesses who was winning.

"MIRANY!"

I snarled as I broke free of the two vampires, who took off without a backwards glance. Either they were the biggest cowards I'd ever seen, or their job was done. Either way suited me just fine. I crouched by the edge of the pier, searching the surface of the water for Mirany, but the tide was coming in fast and the waves were huge. I couldn't distinguish shapes of any sort in the dark with this sort of action going on. But this was just as confirming as being able to see someone would have been. If neither of them came to the surface in the next two seconds, then there was going to be a problem.

Throwing my sword to the side, I dived in after them. Seeing underwater ahd never exactly been my strong point, but underneath the water, there were no waves in my way and with pupils like a cat's I searched the water for Mirany. I wasn't sure, but as I had dived in, I thought I had seen someone else swim off.

I saw a hand and in two seconds I had grabbed Mirany and was hauling her to the surface. It wasn't easy. Her dead weight was bad enough, but she was saturated and I was swimming against the tide. But I wasn't going to let her go quite so easily. It wasn't her time yet. My head broke the surface and I pulled Mirany up beside me, dragging her over to one of the wooden beams protruding from the water. I had a few moments of panic when she didn't breathe, convinced that she had taken on too much water, but then she spluttered and gasped at the air, clutching at my shoulders, almost forcing me back under again.

_Oh thank god. She's okay._

...

"How many times have you saved my life now?" Mirany asked.

I shrugged.

"I lost count," I said, smirking.

Mirany shivered and drew even closer to the fire, though any closer than what she ahd already been was practically sitting inside it.

"I thought I was done for sure," she said, staring into the flames. "But you know what? I wasn't scared. I was almost...happy."

"To let go," I said. "I know the feeling."

"How do you do it?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Keep on going," said Mirany. "Fighting against them but never, ever stopping. Never...losing track of who you are. Why you're fighting. How do you do that for so many years?"

I sat down beside her, considering the question. I'd never really thought about it before.

"I don't know," I said honestly. "I guess it's just something that's inside you. And don't get me wrong. I didn't just wake up one morning and have been fighting the good fight ever since. It's been a long road Mirany. Just like yours is. And while it's one that I can help you with, it's one that I can't walk for you."

"I know that," said Mirany. "I dunno, I just...I don't feel it. She was right. I...I don't know what I really am and until I do, how do I know what the right thing is?"

"Judgement calls," I said. "Something can be right one day and wrong the next Mirany. Killing someone quickly because they're about to die a horrible slow death is something that's right and wrong. You've saved them from pain but...you've still killed them. It's what you believe that makes something right."

"What about what other people believe?"

I scoffed.

"Screw 'em," I said and she smiled. "You don't care what other people think. You say what you believe. You do what you believe is right."

"How will I know though?" Mirany asked. "Because so far I haven't exactly been getting any warm fuzzy feelings after I've killed a vampire or anything."

I shook my head.

"I can't help you with that one," I said. "You'll know when you're ready."

Mirany fell silent, staring back into the fire.

"You're wrong though," I muttered.

She looked up at me.

"You know who you are," I said. "I know you do. Think about it."

Mirany looked so confused I might have been speaking in gibberish.

"Mirany," I said, almost chuckling as I took her hand. "Who are you?"

"Mirany Hunter," she whispered.

"What are you?"

Realisation spread through her face but she didn't speak.

"Mirany Hunter, what are you?" I asked.

"The Slayer."

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Okay, this one was a fairly short one, but it was a two-parter so it's allowed. Don't forget to review and I'll have another one up shortly.**


	28. Inner Child

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**No quote this time because I can't find one that I like. I had a really, really good one but then my internet connection died and I couldn't remember the site it was on. Oh well, next time. Tell what you think :)**

* * *

**ARIEL**

I screamed in frustration.

"HOW IS SHE STILL ALIVE? WHAT DO I PAY YOU FOR? COMIC RELIEF? WHEN I SAY 'GO KILL THE SLAYER' I WANT YOU TO KILL THE SLAYER!"

I took a calming breath. The idiots in front of me were cowering in fear. As they should. They weren't going to hang around much longer.

"If you want something done..." I muttered.

I turned away from them and picked up the bow that was resting by the wall, hooking three arrows into place.

"...you have to do it yourself."

I spun around and fired the shafts. Three piles of dust were left where the incompetent excuses for vampires had been. I glared at them with cruel satisfaction for a moment before hooking another arrow into the bow.

"I've been stupid Slayer," I muttered to the mirror in front of me. I looked so...human. "I've underestimated you, and perhaps overestimated the efficency of other methods of getting rid of you. But no more! I will get you Slayer. That I promise you."

I fired the bow at the mirror, but as I changed to my true form, the face of my enemy disappeared, the arrow striking nothing but an empty mirror.

"But why kill you when there's still so much fun to be had? After all, you haven't finished the game yet."

...

**ANGEL**

It was just after midnight when she walked in. I felt sorry for the girl before she had even opened her mouth. She couldn't have been older than five, yet here she was, hurrying into my hotel, looking upset, confused, overwhelmed and scared all at the same time. The poor girl had to have been terrified. She was wearing clothes that were far too big for her; a shirt like the ones Mirany and I tended to wear and a skirt that stopped just short of her ankles when it probably should have been around her knees. She had brown hair that was tied in short pig-tails just under her ears and brown eyes like Mirany's. Cordelia swooped down on her almost at once.

"Oh, look at you. It's okay. You don't have to be scared. It'll be alright. You're a very brave girl."

She had absolutely no idea what the girl was here for, that I was sure of.

"It'll all be okay. You're so clever to come here. Did your daddy know Angel? I'll bet he said that he was really nice. Did he tell you to come here?"

"Uh oh," Connor muttered in my ear. "If the kid wasn't scared then, she's scared now."

I had to admit that Cordy towering over the kid while she said everything was alright in a rather freakish tone of voice probably was causing the girl to look even more scared.

"My name's Cordelia and..."

"Cordelia, take a break," I said pointedly.

Cordy paused, scowling at me, but she left the girl alone and went into Wesley's office all the same. I squatted down beside her.

"You alright?" I asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

The girl shrugged me off, now looking annoyed.

"Alright," I said. "How about you tell me why you're here?"

She was frowning.

"Don't you know who I am?" she asked in a very English accent.

"You don't know who you are?" I asked.

"Yeah, I know who I am," said the girl as though it was obvious.

"Well, _I_ don't," I said.

The girl sighed.

"It's me Angel. Mirany," she said.

I blinked.

"What?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Don't look at me like that," she said, shrinking back slightly. "It's not my fault."

"I don't..." started Connor. "What's..."

"Did Mirany put you up to this?" I asked the girl.

"I _am_ Mirany!" she said vehemently.

_No you're not,_ I tested.

"Yes I _am!_" she insisted, looking like she was about to cry.

"No, no," I said quickly, patting her awkwardly. "It's okay. Don't cry. I know it's you now. I don't know how it's you, but I know."

Connor tilted his head left and right as he tried to figure out how this little girl could be the teenager we were all so used to. She didn't even speak like her. But it was Mirany. She had heard me speak and now that I noticed, she smelt exactly the same too. Mostly human but a tiny bit of canine mixed in.

"How did this...?" I started.

"It was her!" said Mirany, her bottom lip quivering. "I felt weird and so I woke up and I was like this and she was there, then she was gone! How did she do it Angel?"

Connor was slowly beginning to grin. Mirany glared at him.

"It's not funny!"

"Well, that depends on where you're standing," said Connor, unable to wipe the grin off his face. "You're pint sized. You're your own worst nightmare."

I could see the funny side in it as well, but I could also see the serious side. If Ariel had a reason for doing this other than getting amusement from it, it wasn't going to be good.

"How did you get here Mirany?" I asked. "You didn't drive yoruself here, did you?"

"I knocked on my door and told Jason I was lost," said Mirany. "He drove me here."

"Jason...isn't that your scientist? What was he doing answering the door?" asked Connor.

Mirany shrugged.

"I dunno," she said. "Maybe he was going home."

"Does anyone else know about this Mirany?" I asked.

"Mirany?" asked Cordelia, coming back out of the office with Wesley trailing behind her. "That's funny, we know a girl called Mirany too. I would never have thought I'd run into another one though. Not the most common of names."

"Yes, and 'Cordelia' is oh-so-common," Wesley muttered.

"Um...you still haven't met another Mirany," I said.

Cordelia looked confused but Wesley seemed to understand almost at once.

"How did this happen?" he demanded from Mirany, who looked scared again and shuffled closer to me, grabbing my hand with her very small one.

I looked up at Connor, completely lost as to what to do, but he just shrugged, just as blank.

"Uh, tone it down a little," Connor said quietly to Wesley. "I think she's completely five-years-old, not just physically."

"I don't understand," said Cordelia.

"Surprise, surprise," Connor muttered. "Somehow, we don't know how, Mirany's been turned into a five-year-old by Ariel."

Cordelia gaped at him.

"What? Surely that's not even possible."

"I think we've safely proved that it is," I said.

"What are you gonna do?" asked Mirany, pulling at one of her pig-tails.

Cordelia looked like she would very happily claim Mirany as her own right now. I had to admit, she was really cute. I could even see the 'awww' in Connor and Wesley's eyes as well.

"I'll go look through my books, see if we can reverse the spell," said Wesley.

"I'll um...go see if I can beat someone up, find up with Ariel's up to," said Connor.

"And I'm sure you'd love to go along with him," Cordelia said to me quickly. "I'll watch Mirany."

"No!"

Mirany hugged me tightly and Connor and Wesley had to stop themselves from laughing at my look of alarm.

"I wanna stay with Angel," she said.

_Awww. Why hadn't Connor ever been this cute?_

"Awww," Cordelia squeaked, looking like she so wished she was in my position right now. "Alright, you stay with Angel. I'll help Wesley."

_Huh? Wait._

"Uh, do you think maybe someone could...give moral support?" I asked pointedly.

"I don't need support," said Mirany, letting go of me.

Connor grinned as he slapped me on the back.

"See ya later," he said, leaving the hotel.

Cordelia looked like she was more than willing to stay but Wesley dragged her away, smirking at me as he passed. I swallowed as I looked back at Mirany.

"So...what do you wanna do?"

...

Three hours later I was completely stuffed, but Mirany still seemed full of energy.

_Surely you need to recharge sometime._

I ducked as Mirany threw a weight at me. She was still strong, just as strong as a slayer would be if they were five. Now I knew why slayers weren't called at the age of five.

"Mirany, do you think maybe we could take a break?" I asked.

"Why?" asked Mirany.

"Because Angel's about to die," I said, sliding down the wall.

Mirany giggled.

"But you're already dead," she said.

I couldn't see the funny side to that, but as long as I didn't have to expel energy, she could find Hitler funny for all I cared. I was almost on the verge of fainting, so it didn't do me any good at all when she pounced on me. I had completely forgotten that the self-control of a five-year-old was far from that of an eighteen-year-old. Little claws slashed at my arms and sharp little fangs gnashed at my face. Wrestling Mirany off was no easier a feat when she was tiny than when she was tall, but getting her to bite into my arm was easier. Apparently 'Normal Mirany' didn't like the idea of drinking my blood even when she was a wolf. 'Small Mirany' had no qualms about it.

"I swear I'm going to have to buy you a muzzle," I muttered.

"But I'm not a _real_ wolf," said Mirany, letting go of my arm. "It wouldn't fit."

She yawned.

"I think I could make it," I said, picking her up. It felt natural but still strange having her on my hip.

"Where are we going now?" she asked.

"_You're_ going to bed," I said.

"But I'm not tired," said Mirany perkily, then she yawned again.

I smirked.

"Quit while you're behind Mirany."

"But I'm not," said Mirany sincerely.

"Okay then, do me a favour and go to bed anyway, then in the morning we can do some more fun stuff."

_Thank god for the internet._

"Okay," Mirany agreed. "Are you gonna take me home?"

"No," I said. "You're going to sleep in my bed."

"But then where will you sleep?" asked Mirany.

"Connor and I will bunk up," I said.

That was a lie. Connor would never, ever agree to letting me sleep with him. I'd probably end up sleeping in the chair at my desk. Mirany giggled again. I wished she'd kept some of this happiness when she'd grown up. She'd be so much easier to deal with.

"Connor won't like that," she said.

I chuckled.

"Probably not," I agreed, pushing open my door, dropping her on the bed and turning to leave. "Well, goodnight."

"Wait!" Mirany objected. "Aren't you going to tuck me in or tell me a story or anything?"

_Tuck...in? Hmm...Connor was never like this. Must be a girl thing._

I turned back to her.

"Alright then," I said slowly, pulling a chair up beside the bed as she clambered under the sheets. "A story...well...once upon a time..."

I didn't need to go any further than that. I don't think she even heard me start. She was asleep before her head even hit the pillow. I brushed her forehead absentmindedly. It must have been quite the shock to wake up nearly fifteen years younger than what she had been when she went to sleep. It wouldn't have helped that her whole mind set had been set back the same amount of time. She seemed to remember everything though. She knew what we meant when we were talking and everything, she just didn't seem to be able to create the same sort of sophistication with her own sentences.

"You big softy," said Cordelia from the doorway.

I looked up at her.

"You come off so macho and vampire-like, but inside you really are just a teddy bear aren't you?"

"Strange that I come off vampire-like," I muttered.

Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"Wesley thinks he's found something," she said.

"I'll be down in a second," I said.

Cordelia's face was unreadable as she walked away. I looked down at Mirany again and pulled the covers up to her chin, kissing her softly on the forehead before leaving the room.

...

"So basically what you're saying is that the only way to reverse it is to get Ariel to do so?" I asked, summing up Wesley's twenty minute speech in one sentence.

Wesley frowned at me.

"Yes," he said. "But that's a very, very bare description. Ariel doesn't actually have to know she's reversing it. I don't think she would have performed the spell if she knew how to reverse it. All she has to do is touch Mirany and the spell will wear off within six hours."

"If that's all she has to do to reverse the spell then she shouldn't have performed it," said Connor. "She wants to get Mirany while she's vulnerable. How much more vulnerable can you get and yet still comprehend what's going on?"

"So Ariel doesn't actually know that she performed a spell that won't help her in any way?" asked Cordelia.

"I would assume so," said Connor. "Unless it's all a part of her ingenious plan."

"She doesn't have a plan Connor," I said. "She just goes with the flow."

"So let's find Ariel then," he said.

"Not gonna happen," I said firmly. "If she doesn't come to us, then we figure out some other way to reverse this because I'm not going to go looking for a homicidal maniac."

"But if she comes to us, she'll be prepared," said Cordelia. "She's not just gonna walk in here and ask to see Mirany."

"No," I said. "But we're better off fighting on our own terms if we can. She comes to us."

"Alright then," said Connor. "You're the boss."

"I'll keep looking into it Angel. I might find something I missed," said Wesley.

"Where's Mirany?" asked Connor.

"Asleep, finally," I sighed. "I'm _not_ on Mirany duty when she wakes up, alright?"

"Uh, I think that's for Mirany to decide," said Cordelia.

...

I was about ready to fall asleep at my desk when Mirany came in.

"Mirany, I thought you were asleep," I said.

"I had a bad dream," she said timidly.

"Oh," I sighed, picking her up and carrying her back out of the office. The hotel was completely silent. I was the last one awake again. "What was it about?"

"Mummy and daddy," Mirany sniffed, resting her head on my shoulder.

_Of course. She remembers everything. Maybe that's not such a good thing._

"Well, it's over now," I said, trying to cheer her up.

Mirany nodded.

"Can I sleep with you Angel?"

"Uh...Mirany, I...uh...it's just a bit...complicated," I said as I entered my bedroom and put her down again.

Mirany looked at me with sad eyes and I all but melted.

_Awwwwwwwwww._

I sighed. I was likely going to regret this.

"Alright," I conceeded. "If you lie down I'll be back in a second okay?"

Mirany nodded happily and lay down again. She didn't fall asleep instantly this time though and was waiting for me when I came back. I lay down beside her and she snuggled into my chest, then fell asleep, and after a few minutes, so did I.

...

"Dad. Dad."

Connor's hissing woke me up. Mirany was still fast asleep beside me and Connor was leaning over my ear, smirking.

"Having fun?" he whispered.

"What do you want Connor?" I asked, carefully getting up without disturbing Mirany.

"Ariel sent a...message," said Connor, following me out of the room.

"What sort of message?" I asked, walking down towards the lobby.

"One that you can only get by bow and arrow apparently," said Connor. "Cordelia came in, arrow came right after her."

"Is she alright?" I asked.

"Who Cordelia? Yeah she's fine," said Connor, brushing off the question. "Didn't touch her. She wants Mirany, dad."

"Well I'd never have guessed that one," I said sarcastically.

"Yeah well, would you have guessed that she's already here apparently?" asked Connor.

I stared at him.

"What?" I snapped.

"That's what it says," said Connor, handing me a piece of paper.

I read through it quickly then stuffed it back into his hand.

"And you let me leave her alone?" I snarled. "Make sure she can't get out."

"I already have," said Connor.

"Double check," I snapped, rushing back to my room and sticking my head inside.

There was no one there but Mirany.

"Looking for something?" asked an icy voice behind me.

"Will this appearing out of no where thing be happening often? Just so I can prepare myself," I asked, turning around slowly to glare at Ariel.

"Probably," said Ariel, pushing me into the room. "I wasn't intending on having you present, but if I can kill two birds with one stone, then I'm not complaining."

She had a bow slung over her shoulder and a quiver of arrows hanging at her waist. She was also pointing a crossbow straight at my chest, and I kept to the wall. She bent over Mirany.

"She doesn't have any photographs or anything to remember this stage of her life up around her house," she said absent-mindedly. "She didn't like it for some reason. I don't know why. I don't think she knows why. She just doesn't want to remember it. But she does. She had such happy times. Maybe that's why she doesn't want to remember it; because her experiences now don't live up to her experiences back then. She can't stand it."

Made sense. Mirany didn't seem to think that her previous experiences were hers or something if they were enjoyable, as though she was going to convince herself that her whole life had been miserable. God, she still had a long way to go.

"You've stooped a little low, haven't you?" I asked. "Fighting a five-year-old. What are you trying to prove by that? Anyone could be stronger than her at this age. You're not going to achieve much."

"You don't have to be quiet you know," said Ariel. "She's drugged. She won't wake up for hours."

"Okay, so now you're fighting a sleeping five-year-old. Wow, you must be so proud of your accomplishment."

"I don't want to kill her Angel," said Ariel.

She looked up at me with red eyes.

"I haven't finished with her yet."

"Get out of here," I growled.

Ariel looked at me testily.

"Or what?" she asked.

"Or I'll make you get out," I snapped.

Ariel sighed.

"You're no fun Angel," she said, leaving the crossbow on the bed beside Mirany and walking over to me, running a finger down my jaw line. I drew away from her. "You need to loosen up a little. Relax. Enjoy yourself."

"Why did you do this?" I asked her.

Ariel glanced back at Mirany.

"Amusement," she said after a small pause. "The same thing happened to me you know."

I raised an eyebrow and she smiled slightly.

"Why do you think I like games so much?" she asked. "The spell wore off, the mindset never fully went away though. You should be thanking me. I've made her much more bearable."

She was standing far too close to me.

"I don't want your charity," I snapped. "I don't need Mirany to be bearable, I need her to kill you."

"Well, be careful what you wish for," said Ariel, tongue poking between her fangs as she went back over to Mirany, and brushed her cheek.

I growled warningly. Ariel chuckled darkly.

"So protective," she muttered. "I wonder if you're just as protective when she's her normal age as well."

"I am," I growled.

Ariel nodded slowly.

"So far you've proved that," she muttered. "But we'll see."

She took up her crossbow again and pointed it at Mirany this time as she moved towards the door.

"I was planning on taking her with me," she said. "Maybe torture her for a little while, then end her. But...I hate plans."

She left without another word. I didn't follow. I couldn't care less about where she went. I was quite sure we'd meet again. Mirany moaned slightly and rolled over, her eyes fluttering open. So she had lied about her being drugged.

"Angel?" she asked. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," I muttered, staring at the door. "Nothing."

...

"And you just let her stroll in?" asked Mirany, handing me a drink and chugging down half of her own.

"Well, she was pointing a crossbow at me the whole time," I reasoned.

Mirany smirked.

"Coward," she muttered. "You weren't prepared to risk your life for me?"

"Of course I was," I said seriously. "But she wasn't doing anything."

"Except flirt with you," said Mirany, scowling. "Breaking one of the most fundamental rules; no fraternizing with the enemy."

"It wouldn't be that perhaps you're a bit sour about that because of some other reason, would it?" I asked.

_How on earth does she keep such a straight face after a question like that?_

"It's a talent," said Mirany.

I paused. I hadn't meant for her to hear that.

"And why shouldn't I?" she asked. "The question itself was completely normal. You only insinuated other things."

"And how do you feel about me...insinuating?" I asked.

"I dunno. How 'bout you wait a couple of drinks and find out?" asked Mirany, smirking.

She wasn't any different as far as I could tell. The stuff Ariel had been on about could have been just as big a lie as her drugging Mirany had been.

"So what was it like? Being five again?" I asked.

Mirany giggled.

_Ah, maybe not._

"Only you would ask something like that," she said. "I dunno. It felt like I was five. What do you want? An essay or something?"

"Point taken," I said.

"I wore you out, didn't I?" asked Mirany happily.

"Enjoy it while you can Mirany. We'll see who's worn out tomorrow," I said.

Mirany scoffed and downed the rest of her drink, cracking open another bottle almost immediately. I took it from her hand and she frowned at me as I sat down beside her.

"Why don't you like thinking about when you were little?" I asked.

"What?" asked Mirany, giving a nervous sort of laugh. "I always look back at those times."

"Don't play dumb with me Mirany. I've been inside your head," I said, determined not to let her brush me off.

Mirany opened her mouth to speak, closed it again, then went to speak again, but no. She had closed her mouth again.

"How about I answer that question?" I asked.

She looked wearily at me.

"If you don't look back on times when you've enjoyed yourself, and your life's been good, then you can kid yourself into thinking that your life is better now than it was back then," I said. "Or at least, it's no worse."

Mirany swallowed.

"Well let me tell you something Mirany Hunter," I said, getting very, very close to her face. "Your life is better, whether you look back or not."

I didn't just brush her lips this time. My want was too great and it was a long time before we parted.

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Who else thought this one was cute? Come on, you can admit it, I am. I didn't even know I could write cute stuff :) Anyway, hope you enjoyed this one. Review and I'll have another one up soon.**


	29. Agent of Chaos

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**I'm trying the whole thing from Ariel's point of view. I don't know how well it's going to work, given that I haven't really figured her out yet, but give me some feedback because if you do like it, I will do it again for at least one more episode. Enjoy and review.**

* * *

_**"Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos." - The Joker - The Dark Knight**_

* * *

Idiot number four, down for the count. Two more rushed at me. I jumped into the air and spun my legs to meet them. Ariel, six; idiots, zero. This is what happens when vampires don't give up their space willingly to serve the cause. Seven more left. Oh how I loved the extra benefits that being a doppelganger of the slayer had. Accessing the soul of the ancient warrior wasn't easy, not when I wasn't actually the slayer, but it wasn't impossible.

A wooden beam running along the roof became my next weapon. Jumping up, I seized it, then jerked my arms so that it came smashing down onto the next one. One hit KO to idiot number seven. I snapped the three inch thick beam in half across my knee and swung at the next one. Ugh. I really needed to fight the slayer. Apart from that match in the water, where she had to remember to come up to breathe, we hadn't actually fought. I was desperate for a good fight, not that I didn't mind ridding the world of unnecessary vampires. I'm not a traitor to vampires. I don't kill them all, just the ones that piss me off. Unlike the slayer's pet vampire. He annoyed me. Always killing off my possible muscle. It's so hard to find people willing to stand up to him nowadays.

Five more. They apparently appeared to be hiding. Okay, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they were lying in wait until I dropped my guard. Ha. It wasn't possible for me to drop my guard while I was in tune with the greatest force on earth. Yes, I've admitted it. The slayer is the greatest force, or at least, the slayer was when she was first called. The original slayer. So much raw power. Evil was nothing compared to that sort of power. But now, particularly with the little wimp the Powers That Be had called this time, the slayer was strong, but not in the way she used to be.

My eyes travelled around the room, searching out the rest of them. They couldn't hide from me. The tiniest sound, the smallest of movements, the very hint of a scent and I would know where they were. And sure enough...

I grabbed the vampire by his hair from behind the column and rammed his head against the concrete. That's what the doofus got for hiding behind a big tall stick of concrete. He became a part of it.

Four more. I hadn't killed one yet. They were good. I was just better. This was basically how I tried out my muscle. If they lasted more than a second against me then they were pretty good. This fight had gone on for nearly a minute, including the searching for them and the small talk that had happened before then. So really, the fight had only lasted about fifteen seconds, but it was enough for me to know that if I killed them, I was missing a good opportunity.

The next one was...well, I wouldn't say smart, but he had charisma. I spun around and snap kicked him in the stomach, sending him right across the room. Following right behind me was new to me. No one I knew had ever thought of putting themselves in that position. Maybe because they had some sense. Still, it was new.

Two were behind couches just ahead of me on either side of where I was walking. I could only assume that they thought I couldn't take them both at the same time. I walked right up to the edge of the couches then pushed one over onto the vampire, while I grabbed the other vampire by the collar and slammed my fist into his skull. The one the couch had fallen on was still stupid enough to try to attack me and I pushed him away impatiently. I didn't have time for this much longer. I was wasting valuable night time to be outside in my true form.

One left, the leader. He already had a bit of a bead on me. He was why I wanted to take over this place. He'd pissed me off. He was going to be the one that I would kill, and I snapped off the leg of a chair to prepare myself. I swept my gaze around the room. I couldn't see any movement in any of the typical places. Actually, I couldn't see him at all. That wasn't right. I should have at least been able to see some evidence of where he was. Just knowing that he wasn't anywhere gave me the knowledge I needed to know where he was.

I tossed the makeshift stake straight at the ceiling and dust fell down on me as the vampire disintegrated. I looked around at my handy work. Twelve vampires were groaning as they checked over their injuries, well, maybe six of them were checking their injuries, the rest were out cold. Another four vampires were standing at the door, waiting for instruction.

"Hmm," I said, changing back into the vampire I had been for millenia. I still wasn't feeling my age. I love changing bodies. "It's nice but...it's not home. Tie them up."

The vampires at the door, my trusted muscle, made quick work of chaining the vampires up against the wall. I grinned.

"Now it's home."

...

"Ugh, do you do anything other than make out?" I spat, watching from the roof of the building across from the bar the slayer visits.

She and the vampire were standing outside. He had her up against the wall, her arms around his neck, his arms around her waist, and they were currently trying to eat each other's faces off.

"How much longer do I have to watch you before I find something of use?" I snapped.

Yes, I was talking to her, no, she couldn't hear me. I'm not an amatuer at this watching and waiting thing. I've out lived civilisations. Waiting is something I have more than enough experience with. However, if this went on for much longer I'd have to cut off her lips. I didn't want to kidnap the vampire. Kidnapping was so cliche. They had finally parted. Thank god. I listened in again. Tuning into a particular person was hard when there was a large amount of noise around, but since when had hardness factor ever stopped me?

"When are you going to tell them?" she was asking.

"Not yet," he said.

Hmm. Interesting.

_I wonder what would happen if they knew?_

That was all I needed. I didn't need a good plan. Details were for perfectionists. All I needed was an idea. I rummaged in my bag and pulled out my camera. Yeah, yeah, sounds foolish, but I could do so much with this camera. This camera had provided me with most of my good muscle. Blackmail was certainly not below me. But blackmail wasn't my plan for the slayer. No. What would I blackmail her for? No. All I wanted to do was create a little chaos.

They were pressed together by the lips again. Perfect. Ten photo's later, I was gone.

...

The slayer's friends didn't disappoint. They couldn't seem to be able to decide whether to be furious or horrified or amused or any combination of other emotions. The person whose reaction I didn't expect was the slayer's sister. The other's were all predictable. The boy was outraged, after all, the vampire was his father and he had been turned down in marriage by the slayer; the Watcher was slightly angry and a little disgusted; and the loud woman was amused, no doubt because she had something to gossip about, and angry at the same time, probably because she would rather it was her in those photos. Humans. So easily taken by people.

The sister however, she acted like I had to the news. I didn't know what her plan was, I had only watched for a short period of time before proceeding to the hotel of Angel Investigations, but she had a plan for the pair of them. I liked the sister. She was cruel and cunning, very much like myself, and she was every bit as proud of it as I was. Perhaps it was because she worked for the famed Wolfram and Hart. It had been around before even I had been born. You heard stories of a company helping the evil within the world through out time. They had so much power. I had never needed to contact them, but I had always known they were there if necessary.

I stayed hidden in the shadows of the hotel as the vampire walked in. The three goons were waiting for him. He paused, looking around at them all.

"I'm assuming by your looks that I did something wrong," he said.

"Explain," said the Watcher, tossing the photos onto the table in front of him.

The vampire looked confused.

"Where did you get these?" he asked.

"Don't change the subject," said the woman. "Explain."

The vampire looked like he was thinking this through at two hundred miles an hour. Ha. Like he would ever be able to get himself out of this one. As much as waiting could be boring, the rewards were great fun.

"I don't know how these could have been made," he said calmly. "It never happened."

_Oh, you are not getting out of this like that. Not on my watch. I want amusement vampire. Amuse me!_

"Liar," the boy snapped. "These haven't been faked. You'd be able to tell."

The vampire gulped as he stared at him. He had his hands clenched and he looked itching for a fight. Now that would be fun.

"Have you seen technology these days? They can do amazing..." started the vampire, but the Watcher and the boy glared at him, cutting him short. The woman just appeared to be enjoying the whole scenario. Obviously she didn't care whether it was true or not. She would be able to annoy him for a long time with this.

"Angel, you can't do this," said the Watcher seriously.

_Oops. Bad move._

The vampire seemed to be trying to kepe himself calm.

"I can," he said. "And I will. No matter what you say."

"YOU'RE MY DAD!" the boy yelled. "WHAT? YOU'RE SO DESPERATE THAT YOU HAVE TO RESORT TO MY EX'S NOW?"

"Connor, she didn't break up with you simply to hook up me," said the vampire angrily. "It just happened this way. But trust me, don't read into it the way you are because it's not true!"

The woman looked a little uncomfortable at this. I knew why. She believed that the slayer breaking up with the boy had been mainly because she did have feelings for the vampire. But the vampire was right. It wasn't true. It may have played a small role in it, but really, the slayer was never going to be tied down to anyone, even if they were her 'soul mate'. That was something I couldn't understand about the slayer. I couldn't quite figure out why that was. Her thoughts were such a mess it was amazing that I had managed to understand anything about her.

I could see that the boy looked like he was about to explode, but do could the vampire. I sensed that my fun here was almost up, but I knew there would be more to come later.

"I don't know why you lot think that this is such a bad thing, but if any of you have any actual reasons as to why I shouldn't do this, speak up," snapped the vampire.

The boy opened his mouth.

"Reasons besides jealously," the vampire growled and the boy glared at him.

There was silence for a moment, then he turned and stomped out of the hotel. I turned away as well. It was time I took my leave. I wanted to know where he was going. I slipped quietly towards the window and jumped down to the street below, spying the black convertable as it drove away. I gave him a few seconds head start then took off after him.

...

"Angel, I don't know," said the slayer angrily for the twentieth time. "I really don't. Stop blaming me."

"Well who should I blame?" snapped the vampire.

"Santa Clause? I don't bloody well know," said the slayer.

They were waiting for her sister to come online, standing in front of the screen on the wall and arguing.

"Mirany I swear..." started the vampire.

"Angel! Shut up!" said the slayer, massaging her forehead. "You've said it already. And I've said I don't know, okay? What do you want me to say? Yeah, I sent the photos so that they could beat us both up? Kinda ruins the fun a little bit there."

_Actually, that would make my day._

I shifted my position slightly in the corner, careful not to make a sound. I was glad for the beams running in the upper corners of the dark room. They were being used by the slayer to keep all the cords from the computers out of the way, but they made for a great place to listen in if you were able to get to them. It was dark enough in the room that they wouldn't have been able to spot me unless they were looking specifically for me.

"I'm sorry," muttered the vampire, running his fingers through her hair. "I just didn't need them to find out like this. Frankly, I didn't need them to find out at all but..."

He was interrupted as the screen turned on.

"Ah Mirany, so glad you called. I've been meaning to tell you for weeks now but I never get around to it that I'm sick of doing your accounts and seeing as you're finally controlling yourself, vampire blood or not, I really think you should..."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever," the slayer snapped impatiently. "I didn't call to talk about accounts."

"Well what did you call about then?"

The slayer moved a scanned image of one of the photos from one computer to the big screen with her glove things and flicked her wrist, sending the photo.

"Oh I got these," said Lilah, smirking.

She was the only one I referred to by name when I wasn't talking to them. She was the only one I liked.

"Does this mean that I should hook up with Connor now? You know, swapping ex's and what not? Because I'm sorry, but I really don't need to deal with another teenager at the moment. You're bad enough as it is."

"Thank you," said the slayer sourly.

"Anything I can do to lighten the mood," muttered Lilah sarcastically. "So what about these photos?"

The slayer and the vampire both stared at her in shock. The slayer recovered first.

"You're planning something, aren't you?" she asked shrewdly. "I know that look. Don't you dare Lilah. Don't even think about it."

"Now why would I do that?" asked Lilah innocently. "I'm not evil, you know."

"Do you have any idea who they came from?" asked the vampire, putting his hand over the slayer's mouth to quiet her.

He yelped and withdrew his hand. I could smell blood. She'd bit him.

"I have many ideas," said Lilah. "The question is, do you?"

"You have Santa Clause," said the slayer.

"It's not Santa Clause," said Lilah impatiently.

"So you don't just have ideas, you know," said the slayer.

"Obviously none of you thought this through," said Lilah. "Why am I always the brains of the operation?"

"Lilah..." the slayer growled.

"Who do you know that would do something like this?" asked Lilah, as though it was obvious. Really, it was.

I shifted again. Woops. My foot slipped slightly, and as I went to regain my balance, I made just enough noise for them to know that they weren't alone. The slayer sighed.

"I really gotta get better locks," she muttered. "Ariel, get your butt where I can see you. Lilah, thanks for the tip, and if you even consider using these photos against me I will go over there and pull out all your insides. Do you understand?"

She cut the connection and glared around the room.

"I told you to SHOW YOURSELF!" she snapped.

I dropped lightly to the ground.

"You know this is just the begining right?" I asked her. "There's still far more to come."

"Not if I can help it," the slayer growled.

The vampire held her back.

"Why?" he asked. "Why...this? Why not something helpful to you? Why not kidnap?"

I sighed.

"Because kidnapping is cliche," I snapped. "And this is fun. Watching mutiny spread within the ranks."

"Are you going to kill me or not?" the slayer snapped. "Because if you are then stop messing around."

I ignored her and turned to the vampire.

"What's the best way to isolate someone in a battle?" I asked.

He glared at me.

"Turn the rest of their allies against them," he said.

I turned back to the slayer.

"I'll get to killing you slayer," I said. "But first, to make you completely alone."

"You haven't made me alone," she growled.

"Not yet," I said. "But I will."

Neither or them had attacked yet, which seemed strange. Perhaps it was because they weren't prepared.

"You can't turn everyone against her," said the vampire.

"No," I agreed. "I can't. But I can turn most against her. Everyone else she'll do herself, perhaps with a little help from me."

"I'm not an idiot, why would I do that?"

I couldn't help but giggle.

"Because you're you," I said simply. "In all your idiocy, you will alienate yourself, just by the use of your scrambled mind and terrible personality."

"And then what?" asked the vampire. Hmm, he didn't leave anything uncovered, did he?

"What do you think?" I asked, walking around the pair of them.

The vampire just stood still, the slayer watched me, showing her paranoia. I did love playing with them. Particularly the slayer. she took everything so seriously. So personally.

"Well, then we'll find out how strong you really are," I said in the slayer's ear.

She growled angrily and I changed into my wolf form, ready for the fight.

"Or," I said, "we can find out now."

She couldn't resist.

_Oh thank god. It's fighting time._

The vampire didn't have time to react, but I did. I was ready for it. I dodged out of the way and spun around, kicking at her head. She blocked me just in time, but instead of my breaking her jaw, I broke her forearm. Ignoring the pain, she swung at me. When you're really fast and you're in a fight, you tend to realise just how clumsy people are at fighting. She had left herself wide open, and in her leaning back to get in a good slug, she told me exactly what she was going to do.

I side stepped her and swept her legs out from under her. She landed heavily on the floor and rolled over, jumping up almost at once. Now the vampire had joined in.

"Not your fight I'm afraid," I told him as I ducked under his swing and brought my fist up hard into his solar plexus. He doubled over for just a moment, and that was all the time I needed to send him sprawling into the wall, unconscious.

I had taken my eyes off the slayer though and she landed a heavy kick against the back of my head. I staggered forwards and into one of the bench tops. I smirked. I could hear her getting ready to hit me again and as she came in close, I grabbed the computer in front of me and threw it at her. She dodged it, but I hadn't meant for it to hurt her. It was just the distraction. I swung at her with my fist, landing a solid uppercut right under her jaw.

She dived at me and I let her get me on the ground, but I wasn't about to let her get the upperhand from there. I brought my knees up to my chest and kicked her hard in the stomach, sending her flying off me and landing on the floor ten feet away, groaning. I pressed my knee to her chest and my hand to her throat.

"I could kill you now," I growled. "I should. You're weak for a slayer. You have no real training. You deserve to die so that someone else can try to fix your mistakes."

She was clawing at my hand, but I wasn't about to let go. I pressed harder.

"You know what my slayer record is? Three-hundred, give or take. I know how strong a slayer should be. How strong a slayer can get. You are nowhere near that strong, yet you still think you can challenge me. I should kill you."

I let go of her throat and she coughed violently, gulping down air.

"But I won't, because I'm not finished with you," I said. "Enjoy your life while you can."

I removed my knee from her chest as I straightened up. She rolled over, pushing herself up with shaky limbs, leaning against the wall.

"I won't rest," she warned. "I won't rest until I kill you."

"Well then, I hope you don't mind a few sleepless nights," I said coolly, turning away.

"Coward!" she snapped.

I don't usually let things get to me. Not when my enemies are saying them anyway. They say things to rile me up, and so often what they're saying is true so I take a compliment from it rather than an insult. But I will not stand for being called something I'm most definitely not. Not from someone I so nearly killed. I spun around, snarling, and slashed at her with claw-like nails. She yelled in pain and her legs buckled, so she ws kneeling on the her hands and knees. She looked up at me, growling. I was glad to see that I had put a nice set of deep cuts along the diagonal of her face. But I wasn't done. I lifted her up by her collar and slammed her agaisnt the wall.

"If you ever call me a coward again, I will never kill you," I said venomously. "I'll just make you suffer for the rest of your life. And it'll be a long one. As long as I'm around, you will be too, in pain, all the time."

I let her go and she dropped to the floor, head down, looking defeated.

"See you later," I said cheerfully, and I bounced out the door, then pressed my ear against the wood.

I could hear the vampire groaning as he came back to consciousness.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

"Better than you," said the vampire, obviously noticing the wounds I had given her.

She probably thought they would heal after a little while, but I knew better. I had done similar things to other slayers. I had one of those very useful abilities of being able to stop the supernatural healing process of slayers. I hadn't used it while we were fighting, but I had utilised it when I had lost my temper.

"What happened?" the vampire was asking.

"We talked a little, but before that we fought," she said, then she paused. Finally, "She won."

I had to stop myself from laughing out loud. She sounded sooo...put out. It was excellent. I was so convulsed with silent laughter that I almost missed the best bit.

"I'm not strong enough," she muttered. "I can't beat her."

_You've only just realised that? Well, I guess some people are just slow sometimes._

Still smiling, I left without a sound.

...

"Why isn't it healing?" she asked angrily.

The vampire tried, and failed, to calm her down.

"I don't know Mirany. Just, take a breath and we'll think it through."

"Think is through? You want me to think it through? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? I LOOK LIKE I'VE BEEN MAULED BY A TIGER OR SOMETHING! I can't do this anymore, Angel. She nearly killed me. She could have killed me. Maybe ten more seconds and I would have been out for the count. She's too strong."

She was quivering. I knew what happened next. I'd seen this countless times before. She experienced terrible pain as she tried to fight the wolf from coming out and he shoved his wrist into her mouth. Ugh, I still hate the blood bonds.

"Nobody is too strong Mirany," he said as she came back to her senses. "Everybody has a weakness. We'll find hers."

"Oh yeah? Is that before or after she kills us all?" asked the slayer. "Let's face it. We're nothing to her. She could kill us with the blink of an eye if she wanted to."

_Very true._

"But she hasn't," the vampire pointed out. "Which means she wants something. It might just be to drag it out, it might be something tangible. But it means we have leverage."

_I want fun traitor. And no matter what you do, you can't take that away from me. I'm old-fashioned. I make my own fun._

"She wants us to play her game," said the vampire. "What if we don't?"

_Then watch you pathetic excuse of a vampire as people die. People you know. And perhaps, if I have time, people you love._


	30. Invisible Woman

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Hi all. This one is set two weeks after the last one. I'm back to my two week thing now so hopefully it should flow better. The one week thing just didn't click with me. Wasn't working. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to give a review. Just so you know, you are allowed to give critism, as long as it's constructive. I've just noticed that all my reviews seem to be really positive so either I'm a really good writer or you're all just too nice. I won't kill you if you give a bad review. Really, I want to improve, so feel free to tell me that something in a chapter, or just the whole chapter, was total rubbish.**

**Anyway, enjoy and review, good or bad.**

* * *

**_"Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others." - Jonathon Swift_**

* * *

When I woke up, there was a fraction of a second, just one, where I thought I saw Ariel. But it was so fast I was sure it had just been me running through the fight in my head again without even realising it. It was happening a bit lately after all. Someone would talk to me and I'd be jerked out of a trance I didn't even realise I was in.

"Mirany? You here?"

I groaned as I struggled to my feet. Why was he here so early?

"Mirany, get up! We have to go patrolling."

Angel stuck his head into the room.

"Jeez!" I said indignantly. "Give a girl a minute to wake up, won't you?"

"Mirany?"

I stared at him. He was looking around the room, as though he couldn't see me, even though I was standing in plain view of him.

"Right here," I said pointedly. "Now why don't you go and wait until I'm ready to go patrolling?"

"Mirany, stop hiding from me, it's not going to work," he said impatiently.

I stood right up in front of his face, scowling. Now he was just being stupid.

"I'm right here!" I said loudly, waving my hands in front of him.

"Come on Mirany, stop mucking around," said Angel, sounding almost as annoyed as I was. Almost. I narrowly avoided him as he came barging right into the room, staring around. "We have to go patrolling."

"Me? I'm not the one mucking around!" I said angrily.

Angel poked his head into the ensuite, then closed the door, looking around, confused.

"Mirany?" he asked, sounding more worried than annoyed now.

Giving up on all forms of communication, I threw a pillow at him. He yelled in shock as it flew straight into his face.

"Who threw that?" he asked, staring around cautiously now, drawing a knife from his sleeve. Seriously, surely he knew the joke was over now. There was absolutely no need to take it this far. "Show yourself."

"Okay, the joke's over now," I said forcefully, but he didn't quit it. "Angel?"

I went over and waved my hand in front of his face again, carefully avoiding the tip of the knife. I clicked my fingers, I pulled faces, I came _this_ close to landing a solid blow on his jaw, but nothing. He didn't react to any of it, still looking around suspiciously. I sat down on the bed, confused.

"You can't see me," I said.

"I told you to show yourself," Angel growled.

"Or hear me," I said.

"NOW!"

I grinned.

"Excellent."

...

I could only assume that Ariel had done this to me, but for once, I wasn't complaining, unlike I had been for the past two weeks. It was hardly my fault. The bloody great gashes she had given me were still there. I wasn't healing the way I normally did and so I had to settle for normal old human healing, and let me tell you, I have absolutely no idea how people put up with it! It's the slowest bloody process I've ever had to suffer through. So I could hardly be blamed for complaining about it.

Angel still hadn't seen me, though he had gotten a couple of surprises now, namely vampires bursting into dust without him touching them, his steering wheel jerking around a little, and a glass jar being thrown at his head. Whatever Ariel had hoped to achieve with this, it wasn't working. This was great.

But apparently him not seeing or hearing from me had made him worried, because he'd somehow managed to persuade Connor to check out my place. I say persuade because at the moment, Connor didn't really want to have anything to do with Angel or me. He was still pissed off about us getting together. Cordelia and Wesley had gotten over it by now, but Connor wasn't about to drop it. Sure, that made sense, but it didn't make it any less annoying.

However, there was an even better up side to this than there was to just being invisible to Angel. I mean, how many girls can say that they've actually, literally, haunted their own ex? Ha, not many living ones can at any rate. And I knew exactly how I was going to do it.

Connor wasn't about to believe Angel when he said that something weird was going on as they walked through my house, looking for me, possibly because I hadn't actually thrown anything at him so far. I'd knocked a few things over on purpose...a few heavy things, which were aiming at his head, but I hadn't actually done anything really suspicious, so he wasn't taking Angel seriously at all. That and the fact that he really hated Angel at the moment made him fairly narrow-minded. That is, until they reached the music room.

When Connor and I had swapped bodies, he'd played a song on the piano which I had written. Half a year later, I wondered if he would remember it. I was about to find out.

"I don't _know_ where she is," said Connor frustratedly as the two of them walked in. "All I know is that she's not here. Why don't you go and look at Dan's? She's probably up to her twentieth round or something by now. She's likely to be dancing tables somewhere. Anyway, you probably know her better than I do. You getting all _cuddly_ and everything. You don't bloody well need my help."

_Hey! I've never been able to get to twenty rounds. Sure, I've danced on tables, but my limit is twelve. You should know, you were there when I found out._

"And this whole haunting business of yours is crap," Connor snapped. "You are looking for a way to get me to talk to you again. But guess what? It's not going to work. I'm going home to sit and think about how best to have my revenge on you _and_ Mirany. So if you'll excuse me, I'm leaving, because there's nothing suspicious going on here."

And cue music. It took Connor about three seconds to jump on top of the nearest surface. I almost stopped playing I was laughing so hard. Angel was pissing himself just as badly.

"Nothing suspicious huh?" he asked, chortling.

Connor was staring straight at me, but straight through me. It felt so weird to be looked at but not seen, in the literal sense. People had looked at me but not really seen me before, but this was an entirely different playing field. They actually couldn't see me now. I envisioned many crushed toes in the near future.

"What's the song?" Angel asked. "I've never heard it before."

"I...don't know what it's called," said Connor slowly, getting off the bench top. "But of course you haven't heard it. It's Mirany's."

There were sheets of paper and pens on the piano lid. I was in the process of trying to write something, but it wasn't going well. That didn't matter. Point was, as far as they were aware, some unseen something was writing on a page. Angel was the first to recover, after all, he was getting more used to the strange happenings.

"'She Describes Infinity'," he read.

"Okay, what's going on?" asked Connor.

I rolled my eyes.

"Is it really that hard for you to grasp? I'm bloody...oh wait. You can't hear me. Well, in that case..."

I spent the next minute using words, some of which I wasn't even sure existed, to insult Connor, and all of which should never, ever be said in the proximity of any living person, unless of course, no one can hear you.

Angel wasn't quite as thick as Connor.

"Mirany's invisible," he said. "And apparently, not only can we not see her, but we can't hear her. Tap once Mirany if you've been telling me things all morning that you would never actually tell me if I was listening."

I grumbled at his amazing deduction as I tapped on the piano.

_Wait a second...are my thoughts unhearable? Hey Angel, you're a wimp._

"Call me a wimp again and you'd better hope that whatever happened to you is permanent," Angel threatened.

I gulped.

_It worked._

"So what happens now?" asked Connor. "We throw flour on her or something?"

_Don't even think about it._

"More importantly, we figure out what or who happened and how to fix it," said Angel.

_Three guesses who, _I said sarcastically.

"I think it's fairly obvious who's behind it," said Angel, scowling. He clearly didn't like having me in his head all the time. "Now we just need to figure out a way to reverse it."

_Well, maybe not yet. Can you imagine how much fun I could have with Lilah or Cordelia?_

"Until then, no more haunting," said Angel firmly.

_Great. Just go ahead and ruin all my fun. Wait a minute, like you can stop me! You don't know where I am!_

Angel sniffed.

"Yes I do," he said, looking right at me.

"God damn vampire senses," I muttered.

"How the hell do we find a way to reverse it?" asked Connor. "It's not like Ariel's just going to tell us."

_Oh, he's one of the glass-half-empty types._

Angel smirked.

"We'll figure it out. We've done it before."

_Oh I've just had the best idea..._

"No haunting Ariel," said Angel.

I gaped at him.

_How do you do that?_

"She might still be able to see you," said Angel. "Can't risk it."

_Of course not. We can risk Mirany fighting against the fanged bitch when she's off her guard, in the middle of a room with no weapons, and 'weak', but we could never risk Mirany fighting the vampire when she's completely on her guard, invisble, wielding many weapons, and being able to lift ten times more than she could last week._

"It's probably what she wants!" Angel snapped.

Connor was just getting more and more confused.

"Do you think we could limit the mind thing?" he asked.

"Not a chance," I said.

"Knowing Mirany, not a chance," said Angel.

_Hey, we're in sync,_ I told him, grinning.

_Oh joy to the world._

He didn't sound particularly enthusiastic about that so I hit him.

"OW! Hey!"

_It's your own fault. Next time don't be sarcastic._

"Mirany, your whole persona is sarcastic," Angel snapped. "Don't be such a hypocryte. Share the sarcasm."

_Well if you insist..._

"Forget it," said Angel, scowling. "We have to find a way to change this. I don't know how long I can go with you in my head all the time before I'm driven mad."

_Now you know how I feel._

...

Angel had told me no, but I couldn't help myself. Anyway, it wasn't like he could stop me. Lilah was still asleep when I slipped into her apartment, closing the door soundlessly, and I took the opportunity to rummage through her stuff, looking for papers or some other form of proof that showed that she really was as evil as I made her out to be. Unfortunately, she must keep those important papers in her office drawers, which I had found were locked.

But it didn't matter. I could look for evidence of Lilah's evilness later. After all, it wasn't like I was trying to prove it to myself. I alreayd knew it was true, no matter how much she helped me. It was time to wake up Lilah, ghost style.

When she had been keeping me at Wolfram and Hart while I was hiding from Kadense, I hadn't been able to resist the urge to wake her up, but this was different. I wasn't just waking her up with the old 'yell in her ear' trick. I was going to be cruel, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

_Mwahahahaha._

...

"Okay, I can't do this," said Cordelia, giving the book I was flicking through a nervous look. "Every time I look up I see that and it freaks me out!"

I took up the cushion beside me and threw it at her.

"You're not helping," Cordelia snapped.

"Both of you just quit it," said Angel wearily. "And deal with it Cordelia. The quicker we can find out how to reverse this, the quicker we'll be able to get her back to normal."

_She started it. And I still think I should go after Ariel._

_Mirany, I'm not above putting you over my knee if you don't shut up._

_You would not._

_Try me._

"Seen the paper this morning?" asked Wesley, tossing the paper in front of Angel as he walked in before i could try him. "And why is there a ghost sitting with you?"

He'd noticed the turning pages of the book already.

"You say that so calmly you'd think it was a regular occurrence," Cordelia muttered.

"Mirany's invisible," said Angel casually, picking up the paper.

"Oh," said Wesley as though that explained everything.

I could see what Cordelia meant. Wesley and Angel didn't seem at all fussed about much of the weird stuff that happened around them any more. I leaned over Angel's shoulder to look at the newspaper and gripped the bone tightly when I saw the headline. Angel winced.

"Mirany...I still use that shoulder," he muttered pointedly.

I wasn't listening. The newspaper had 'TEN KILLED IN MASS MURDER. AUTHORITIES BAFFLED' splashed over it. Pictures of ten people were displayed.

_Oh god._

Angel pried my fingers off him and ran his thumb along the back of my hand comfortingly.

"Ariel?" he asked Wesley.

"Blood drained, necks snapped, no other evidence. I don't know many vampires that are that careful not to be caught."

"Message?" asked Cordelia, who was leaning over Angel's other shoulder.

"'I'm killing people'?" Wesley guessed. "Wasn't anything in the newspaper about a specific message."

I snatched the paper out of Angel's grasp and thumbed through it, despite the uneasy looks I got from Cordelia, until I got to the main body of the article. Phrases jumped out at me and I began to feel ill. 'Blood drained', 'necks snapped right round', 'bodies strewn around like dirty clothing'...'one body with stake through the heart'.

_This is it._

I grabbed a pen and highlighted the passage, handing it back to Angel.

_She's sending me a message._

"Any of the victims related to us, in any way?" asked Angel.

"I was just about to look at that," said Wesley.

"I recognize her," said Cordelia suddenly. "She came in about a year ago. Had a vampire problem I think."

Wesley was thumbing through filing cabinets.

"These ones too," he said, pulling out files with names matching those of the victims. "All vampire problems. None earlier than a year ago. All in about the same time frame as..."

He paused, looking up at Angel.

"The same time frame as when Mirany was killing," he said.

My stomach filled with lead.

"How many more people had vampire problems and came to us at around that time, that aren't dead?" asked Angel.

Wesley flicked through the files.

"Seven," he said.

_Seven more. She's going to kill them Angel._

"We need to find them," said Angel. "Right now."

"On it," said Cordelia, slipping down in front of the computer and beginning to type in the names that Wesley read out.

_I need to find her._

I don't know how he did it without being able to see me, but Angel still managed to grab my arm tightly.

_You're not going anywhere. We don't even know where Ariel is._

_Which is why I said I need to _find _her. Let me go._

_Mirany, it's too dangerous. Even if all of us went with you it would still be too dangerous. We stay put._

_In which part of 'I' does it include the rest of you? I'm going._

_No, you're _not. _She'll kill you. I don't want that._

_If she kills again..._

"She won't," said Angel. "We're not going to let it happen."

I huffed angrily, but Angel wasn't about to let up so I flopped back down onto the couch. Caught by surprise, Angel came toppling down beside me.

_You're no fun._

Before Angel could answer back, Connor hurried in.

"I think I have a way to change her back," he said. "Actually, I think I have several ways, but if Mirany saw Ariel when she woke up then this is probably the most likely solution."

_Oh boy, one of Connor's solutions. This'll be a laugh._

"Take off the necklace Mirany," said Connor.

I stared at him, gaping.

"Are you serious? You're telling me that you've got a way to make me visible and you're telling me to take off my necklace? I don't even have a bloody necklace..."

I paused as I looked down at my chest. Hanging around my neck was indeed a thin silver chain with some sort of symbol or something hanging off it.

"This is what happens when you drink too much," I muttered, seizing the chain and yanking it off my neck. "Can you hear me now?"

Angel smiled.

"One problem solved," he said.

"It's too bad that necklace makes you invisible, it's a really nice necklace," said Cordleia absently.

"Now can I go an find Ariel?" I asked.

"No," said Angel firmly.

I scowled.

"You never let me do anything any more," I muttered.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Am I trying to keep you alive? How dare I?" said Angel with mock outrage.

"If we could get back to the dead people now," said Wesley pointedly.

"Dead people?" asked Connor. "Did I miss something?"

"Only Ariel killing more people," said Cordelia. "You know, the usual."

"Only this time she's killing people directly related to us. They all came to us with vampie issues during the same time that Mirany was...well, killing," said Wesley.

"Which is why we should go and find her and beat her up," I said.

"Or why we should try to find the rest of the people who had vampire problems around that time and protect them from her," said Angel pointedly.

"Which we would be able to do even better if we found Ariel and beat the crap out of her. She can't kill them if she's not alive herself," I pointed out.

"No," said Angel. "That's final. We're not looking for her. Let her come to us if she wants to."

"You mean like how she's standing right behind you?" I asked.

Angel whipped around. Ha, sucker. I wrapped my arm aorund his throat and held a pair of scizzors to the back of his chest, not that he knew that. I was pretty sure he thought it was a stake.

"Tell me again, what are we going to do about Ariel?" I asked pointedly.

"That was low," said Angel, having to bend a fair way backwards as I held him. Okay, so I was shorter than him, so what?

"You should know by now that I don't care," I said. "What are we going to do about Ariel?"

"Nothing, because those aren't about to kill me," said Angel.

I scowled.

"What's not about to kill you?" I asked, trying as best as I could not to blow it. Probably a stupid idea when he could get inside my head.

"A pair of scizzors. Now let go before I make you," said Angel.

"And that's what happens when you have a blood bond," said Connor, smirking as he leant against the wall to watch.

I let go of Angel, still scowling.

_Damn you._

"You're a bit late for that," said Angel.

"I know," I growled.

"Okay, I have addresses," said Cordelia, printing off the list. "Who wants them?"

"Me!" I said at once. "Maybe, if we're lucky, we'll run into her."

...

_"What do you mean you were invisible?"_ asked Lilah.

"I mean I couldn't be seen or heard," I said, turning Angel's blaring classical music down. "And I want to know how she did it. She used some sort of necklace."

_"What does it look like?"_

I held the necklace up in front of me. It was a lot harder than it sounded. Angel's driving wasn't great, and at a hundred miles an hour in a convertable, holding something in front of your face was actually a fairly dangerous thing to do.

"It's silver and necklace-ish," I said.

Angel rolled his eyes and took the phone away from me.

"It's a silver symbol with two triangles attached at the bottom point. I dunno. Maybe ancient Egyptian or Aztec or something. How am I supposed to know? I'm _not_ ancient. What?"

He took the phone away from his mouth and raised his eyebrows at me.

"Your name is Egyptian?"

"Angel! Eyes on the road!" I said, snatching the phone back from him.

Angel rolled his eyes again.

"Lilah, just figure it out," I snapped, hanging up. "You drive badly enough already. I do not need you distracted."

"Look at the pot calling the kettle black," Angel muttered.

"Hey! I'm a better driver than you are. I drive a motorcycle and I'm less likely to crash than you."

"Oh really?" asked Angel, turning to look at me.

"ANGEL!"

Angel chuckled as he turned back to the steering wheel.

"Mirany, you worry too much."

...

"Oh I worry too much, do I?" I snapped, backing into the wall as four vampires approached.

Angel sighed as he got pushed against the wall opposite me by another four.

"Let me guess, you work for Ariel?" I asked, already knowing the answer. "What does she want this time?"

"You," one of the four bearing down on me growled.

"Me? Really? I'd never have guessed," I said sarcastically.

I snap kicked the one that had spoken in the stomach but the other three jumped on me before I could react. In a matter of seconds my had my arms and legs pinned against the wall. The one I had kicked glared at me.

"You're lucky she wants you alive Slayer," he growled.

"Oh, that's good," I said. "I like being alive. Alive is good."

Angel was fighting against the other four, but they seemed to be winning.

"I'm going to enjoy this," said the vampire, seizing my forehead.

"Um...what are you...?" I started, but he'd slammed my head back agaisnt the brick before I could finish. I felt the pain for a moment before I fell unconscious.

...

I woke up with my head throbbing and absolutely no idea where I was. Wherever here was, it was completely dark. Not a shred of light anywhere.

_Great. Just great._

I made to sit up and found that my wirsts and ankles were held very secure in metal cuffs attached to the surface I was lying on.

_Even better. I'm tied up as well._

As I strained to see through the darkness, I heard someone, or something, move. I froze, breathing as quietly as possible.

"Scared yet Slayer?"

A light above me blared into life. My head throbbed even more painfully by the intense light. After my eyes adjusted, I was able to look around. I was in some sort of warehouse or something, bolted to a steel table, surrounded by unpleasant looking items. Ariel appeared above my head.

"Don't worry. You will be."


	31. Pain is Knowledge

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**No quote for this one because I couldn't be stuffed. My internet hasn't been working great and by the time it finally kick started again I was not bothered searching for one. But anyway, enjoy this chapter and I await feedback **

**ANGEL**

"Two weeks," I said, sitting down with my elbows resting on my knees, my head in my hands. "Two weeks and we haven't found her."

"She's probably dead by now," said Cordelia dully. "Two weeks in Ariel's clutches…"

She shuddered.

"Fate worse than death if you ask me," she finished.

"She's not dead," I snapped. "I'd feel it."

"Is this a blood bond thing or just an inkling?" asked Cordelia.

"Blood bond," said Lilah. "He'd be in pain if she died. A lot of pain."

I already was in pain. Too much. I wouldn't have been surprised if Mirany had given up hope on us by now. I just had no clue where to look for her any more. We'd looked…everywhere. Lilah looked like she was in just as much pain as I was. I couldn't believe that barely six months ago she would have happily helped Ariel in this, and now she looked like she was losing a part of herself. I hoped I'd be able to see Mirany alive again just to tell her how proud I was.

"So if Mirany's not dead, then Ariel's keeping her alive without your blood," said Wesley. "Is that even possible?"

"Yes," Lilah sighed. "She's probably substituting Angel's blood with her own. Because Mirany's already bonded with Angel, she can't bond with another vampire if she drinks their blood, but she can be kept alive off any vampire's blood. Anyone can."

"Why?" asked Connor hoarsely. I wasn't sure that any of us had slept a wink in the past week at least. "Why keep her alive? I thought Ariel wanted Mirany dead."

"So that she can play with her," I spat. "Torture her. She likes causing pain, so that's what she'll do. She's going to destroy Mirany's mind before she destroys her body. Why haven't we found her yet?"

"Guess we're barking up the wrong tree," said Cordelia.

"Now's not the time to make jokes!" I snapped, glaring up at her.

She fell silent. They all did. None of us really knew what to say. We were all tired, stressed and far too worried for our own good.

"How strong is your bond with Mirany?" asked Wesley finally.

"Strong," I said. "Why?"

"Strong enough that you could communicate to her from a fair distance away?" asked Wesley. "Or stronger? Can you sense when she's close? Get inside her head; see what's happening to her through her own eyes?"

"Or, if it's really strong, could you completely take over her cognitive thought?" asked Lilah.

"Possession?" I asked. It was a good idea in theory, but trying to possess Mirany would have its consequences. I wouldn't just know what I could gleam about her through searching her head. I would know everything. Feel everything, physical and emotional. And if I was in Mirany's head, it was more than likely that Mirany would be in mine. That wasn't exactly something I wanted. In fact, I was pretty sure that wasn't exactly something Mirany wanted. "I dunno Wes. We've never exactly tried."

"Now's as good a time as ever," Lilah pointed out.

"Angel, anything would be helpful at this point," said Wesley. "Even just being able to tell her that we're looking. At least then she'd know."

"If I do it wrong, which I'm more than likely to, it could hurt her," I said.

"She's probably in worse pain already," said Connor.

Despite his anger at me and Mirany, Connor was worried just as much as any of us. With no idea where she was or what was happening to her, even Cordelia was getting worried about Mirany's chances. Mirany wasn't dead, that much I knew, but it couldn't be long before her entertainment value dropped.

…

**MIRANY**

"Stop," I groaned when she finally stopped the flow of electricity running through me. "Stop, please."

"Shh," Ariel snapped. "I'm concentrating."

_On torturing the living daylights out me. Sure, I'll just sit back and stop distracting you then._

"Now," said Ariel, holding up the switch she had been using for the past hour at least. The voltage was set even higher. I was pretty sure I heard a whimper escape my lips. "Don't forget to scream. You know how much I love it."

In most cases, if someone told me to scream, I wouldn't. I would have just kept my mouth shut, no matter how much pain I was in. But in this case, I knew that pain was the only thing that was keeping me alive, and I wasn't about to jeopardize that just to piss Ariel off. I could do that when Angel got here, whenever the hell that was going to be. Until then, screaming suited me just fine.

I had absolutely no sense of time in this place. There wasn't even a tiny crack in the wall to tell me whether it was day or night. Ariel kept making a point of telling me how long it had been since I had last seen Angel, and that how he wasn't looking, but I couldn't be sure whether she was being truthful or not. At the moment, she was saying that it had been two months, but time couldn't have passed that quickly. Not when I was in so much pain like this. And angel wouldn't have just given up on me. He was looking, I knew he was, he just hadn't found me yet. It had only been a few days. Two months…it just couldn't be two months already.

So I screamed as electricity raked through my body, burning my cells with white hot fire. And I did it again as the voltage grew higher. And again. And again. And each time I felt blackness creep closer. I was so close to not feeling. So close…

"I suppose I should give you a break. Wouldn't want you dying on me," said Ariel.

The machine powered down, and suddenly we were in total darkness.

"I have a world to take over," she said curtly. "I'll come back though."

I flinched as she patted my cheek.

"Don't you worry about that."

"Angel's going to come."

I heard her pause.

"And what makes you say that?"

"He's going to come," I spat. "And when he does he's going to kick your ass so bloody hard that you won't _ever_ want to sit down again."

"We'll see about that."

A door slammed somewhere out of my line of sight and I breathed a small, painful sigh of relief.

_Mirany?_

I nearly jumped right out of my skin.

_Angel?_

_Oh my god, Mirany, I'm so sorry. We can't find you. But we're looking, trust me. We are looking._

_Angel…I can't do this much longer._

I was crying now. I just wanted to go home.

_I know Mirany. It's hard. Hang in there baby, I'm coming. I'll find you._

_She's…_

_Shh. I know. I was in your head. I felt it too. It's going to be alright Mirany. I'm going to find you. No matter what it takes. I have to go Mirany; I can't hold the connection for much longer. You're too far away._

_Angel, no, please…_

_I'll find you Mirany. I promise._

_Angel, wait! Angel?_

He didn't reply. He was gone.

"Well I guess if he's got it all under control then you don't need my help. You should watch the talking to yourself thing. Sort of gives away that there's someone else in your head."

I thought for a moment Ariel had come back, but the voice I heard, while it may have been female, was not mine.

"Who are you?" I demanded, straining to look around.

"A friend," said the person.

"How did you get in here? What do you want?"

"To help," said the woman. I still couldn't see her. "And she's not the only one who can get in somewhere without being noticed. But, we digress. I can help you."

"As tempting as that is, I still don't know who you are," I said, wrestling against the metal cuffs. Yes, because this time they were going to break.

"Maybe you'll just have to trust me," she said.

"I don't know if you know much about me, but I have trust issues," I said.

"I don't have to be here Mirany," said the woman. "I can turn around and leave right now and let Angel and crew waste their time, and yours, looking in the wrong places."

"How much do you know about me?" I asked.

"Enough," said the woman. "Would you like my help or not Mirany?"

"Why are you offering? You'll be going up against the strongest vampire…ever. What's in it for you?"

"Ariel's time is coming to an end. You know it too. Those dreams are coming every time you fall asleep. The time will soon come when you'll be faced against Ariel, and you do not want to be alone. Let me help you Mirany."

"I don't…I don't understand. Why are you helping me?"

"Mirany, let me help you before she comes back," said the woman urgently. "I'll explain everything, but she could be back any second."

A hand brushed my forehead gently.

"Let me help."

I wasn't a huge fan of the spur of the moment decisions. Sure, I made them all the time, but rarely were they the right decisions to make, particularly when it came to trusting other people. But I had a choice between either Ariel or this woman, and this woman was sounding a whole lot better than Ariel was right now.

"Alright," I said finally. "But I want answers."

"You'll get them," she said simply, "once we're away from here."

There was a slight grinding noise and suddenly my wrists and ankles were free. Before I could get up, I was being pulled to my feet.

"Brace yourself," the woman warned.

"For what?" I asked cautiously.

I found out though. One moment I was in complete darkness, the next I felt like I was being pulled apart, but not painfully, just sort of uncomfortably, and then the next moment we were in someone's living room. I staggered and collapsed onto the lounge.

"Sorry about that. Didn't want to risk running into her," said the woman.

I looked up at her, but before I could really take in her appearance, I was falling unconscious. My head flopped onto the arm of the couch and I finally had a break from the pain that was still running through me.

…

**ANGEL**

"I have no idea where she is," I said. "She didn't know. Some sort of warehouse or something but we've looked at all of them."

"We've looked at all the abandoned ones," said Wesley.

"She can't be torturing Mirany in the middle of a busy warehouse. I'm thinking that a girl chained to a metal bench being tortured by her 'evil twin' might raise eyebrows," I snapped.

"I never said that the warehouse was busy. I said it just wasn't abandoned. It might not even be above ground. A lot of companies use warehouses just as storage."

"There was a lot of stuff there," I said, considering.

"I think it's worth a try," said Lilah. "What have we got to lose?"

"Mirany," I said firmly. "Mirany is what we've got to lose. We don't have time to check them all. She hasn't got much left in her. I promised her I'd find her but that's not the way to do it."

"I can get people. Lots of people. We can split up," said Lilah.

"Oh yes, that's a great idea," said Cordelia sarcastically. "Get lots of evil Wolfram and Hart workers to search for the almost dead Slayer and her evil vampire twin."

"There are_ good_ people at Wolfram and Hart," Lilah growled.

"Bull," snapped Cordelia. "You don't count as good Lilah. Just because you're not set against us doesn't mean that you're not just like the rest of them. That firm is full of blood suckers."

The argument only got more heated from there, with Connor and Wesley joining in. I sat ignoring them all, thinking about what Mirany had been through. Was going through. She was probably being tortured right now. She had been in so much pain. I wanted to help her so badly. I wanted to hold her close and tell her that it was all over, that I wouldn't let it happen again, but I couldn't.

"ENOUGH!" I yelled over them all, jumping to my feet. "MIRANY IS OUT THERE SOMEWHERE AND YOU LOT ARE WASTING TIME THAT SHE DOESN'T HAVE! IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP RIGHT NOW THEN GOD HELP ME I WILL SHUT YOU UP!"

Everyone stared at me in shock. I don't think any of them had actually heard me lose my head like that, except possibly Connor when I had lost it at Mirany long ago.

"Lilah, get a team together. Get lots of teams together. Get them to help search. And tell them that if I find out that they've killed her or helped Ariel in any way, then they'll pay for it," I said shakily. "The rest of you, spread out. Wes and Cordy, pair up; me and Connor will go separately. Find her."

They were all out of the door before I could say another word, probably fearing that I would crack it again.

_Good. At least they know I'm serious._

I grabbed a battle ax and stuffed a stake up my sleeve.

_I'm coming Mirany. Hang in there._

…

**MIRANY**

When I woke up, I had to take a moment to figure out where I was. Then I remember the woman and what she had done. I was at her house, I assumed, lying on a sofa, amazed that I could possibly be alive. I had questions, lots of them, questions I was going to need answers for, but they could wait. I needed to call Angel. He needed to know I was okay.

I scrambled to my feet but the woman came back in. Now that I had a chance, I took in her appearance. She was maybe twenty-five, with long strawberry blonde hair and soft green eyes. She looked bewildered.

"What on earth are you doing?" she asked. "Lie back down before you give yourself some sort of migraine."

"I need to call my friend," I said.

"I know you want to call Angel. You don't have to call him 'your friend'. I know everyone you work with," said the woman, pushing me softly back down onto the couch. "But you can't."

"Why not?" I growled. "Are you going to keep me captive as well?"

"Of course not," said the woman. "You're free to leave whenever you want. The front door's through that door, down the hall, third on your left. But I want to help you. With your powers. I can make you stronger. I can strengthen the blood bond you have with Angel as well."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I told you," said the woman, handing me a glass of water as she sat down on a coffee table in front of me. "A friend."

"Well, what do I call you? What's your name?" I said pointedly.

"Kay," she said.

"And how did we get here?" I asked. "You…you did some sort of…"

"I have my own powers," said Kay, smiling at me with perfectly white, straight teeth. "We 'teleported' I suppose you'd call it."

"What else can you do?" I asked.

"We'll get there," said Kay simply. "Right now you should eat something. Then perhaps we can work on your blood bond. See if you can contact him from far away like he could."

The mention of my bond with Angel jerked me back to reality.

"Blood," I said distractedly. "I need…blood. I need vampire blood. I can't function properly without it. I need blood."

"I know," said Kay calmly. "Relax Mirany. I have it covered."

"Sure you do," I snapped. "Because I know _I_ have vampires just cuing outside the door for me to drink from them."

Kay waved a hand and suddenly red liquid appeared, floating in her palm.

"Didn't I mention? I can make things out of nothing," she said at my gaping.

This chick was both amazing and scary at the same time. To already have such control over her powers at a fairly young age was admirable, but it meant that she was well practiced. Very well practiced. She could probably be fairly dangerous if she wanted to be. The blood dropped into my glass, replacing the water with the…ugh…delicious smelling liquid.

_Something has to be done about this wolf thing. I cannot keep smelling blood and thinking that it smells like heaven._

"You have the potential to be much more powerful than me," said Kay. "If you work for it. You're the Slayer. You already should be more powerful than me."

"Yes, I get people telling me left, right and centre that I'm not as strong or mentally prepared or whatever as I should be," I snapped, getting to my feet angrily, ignoring the sudden dizziness that came with it, and crossing the room to the door, with half a mind to leave right now. "I haven't heard anyone tell me that I'm doing a good job yet."

"Angel wants to," said Kay. "But you never give him the opportunity. You never let him finish before you're ripping into him. Just like you didn't let me finish."

I stared at her.

"If all you had to deal with was being the Slayer, then I would be disappointed at the level you're at," said Kay, getting to her feet and coming over to me. "But, for someone with as much to cope with as you do, you're doing exceptionally well."

She took my hand off the doorknob.

"Sit down, and let me try my training method," she said.

…

**ANGEL**

_Angel._

I almost ran my car right into the side railing of the freeway as Mirany spoke to me.

_Mirany. God, you nearly gave me a heart attack._

_That's saying something, seeing as you can't have a heart attack._

_Are you okay?_

_I'm better than okay. Stop searching for me. I'm fine. I need you to do something for me._

_Mirany, if Ariel's forcing you to do this…_

_Angel. Ariel can't control my thoughts. Trust me. I'm safe. Will you do this for me?_

_What do you want me to do?_

…

"Who are you?" I demanded as the woman let me into her house.

"You know, when I saved Mirany's life she demanded the same information," she said. "Don't any of you know how to say 'thank you'?"

"Angel, she's okay," said Mirany, appearing at the doorway. "She's one of the good guys."

"Can't say there are many of them left," I muttered.

"Yes, isn't that what your team was fighting about earlier when you could have been looking for Mirany?" asked the woman. "Don't worry about that. She was already safe."

"How do you know about that?" I demanded.

"All in good time," said the woman. "Sit down."

"Angel, this is Kay."

_Be nice. Don't be too difficult. She did save my life after all._

_Yes well, when she explains, I might be nice._

Mirany rolled her eyes.

_She's not male Angel, there's no competition between you and her. You can bring the testosterone levels down. It's alright. I'm sure you're much better than she is where it counts._

I winked at her and she smiled as I sat down opposite Kay.

"Thank you," I said sincerely to Kay. "Without you I…thank you."

Mirany came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my neck, leaning into my shoulder.

_Did you get it?_

_Of course. I just didn't trust her enough to bring it in._

_That's good. I don't either._

_I thought you were all for this chick._

_You haven't seen what she can do. You should _never _trust someone so skilled at her age._

"Out of curiosity, how did you get her out?" I asked.

"Teleportation," said Kay. "A little skill and a lot of power goes a long way."

"How much power?" I asked. "What else can you do?"

"Let's say that I can…blend," said Kay.

The next second Kay had begun to fade into the background. Patches of her skin were showing exactly what should be behind her until eventually all that was left was backdrop. But when she moved, you could tell for just a fraction of a second that there was someone there, then she camouflaged again.

_Impressive._

_Wait till she takes vampire blood out of thin air. That was the one that really got me._

_Vampire blood? From thin air? I'll bet she does that _all_ the time._

_Yeah, well, she's put it into practice a little over the past few days._

_I'll bet she has. You drink like it's going out of fashion._

_Vampire blood was never in fashion._

"Anything else?" I asked.

Kay became visible again.

"I can make things from thin air," she said, sounding as though every person you ran into on the street could do it. "That's about it."

"I could do with a drink," I said pointedly.

Kay rolled her eyes.

"Why doesn't anyone choose anything challenging?" she muttered.

"Alright then. Make me a tiger," I said sarcastically.

Kay raised an eyebrow.

"That would be interesting," she said. "But I'll pass on that one. I bet you're a scotch man."

A glass appeared in her hand, and slowly began to fill up with the amber liquid.

_Alright. She does have too much control over her powers. How old is she? Twenty-three, twenty-four?_

_I had her at twenty-five, but that's close enough._

_She's certainly one to look out for though. Took me much longer than a couple of years to develop control like that, and I had a good reason._

_Control or kill, Control or kill. Yeah, I guess you did._

"More of a red wine person actually," I said.

_When I say 'don't be too difficult' what exactly goes through your head?_

_Be as difficult as possible until I know everything._

_I thought as much._

The glass disappeared.

"Bar's closed," said Kay.

"Too bad. Didn't even get to brawl," I said, getting to my feet. "It was good meeting you Kay. Thanks again. We'll be going now."

"Wait," said Kay, getting to her feet as well and intercepting us. "Not yet. I can help you."

_She has some sort of disease. Has to help _everyone_ apparently._

I smirked.

"I hate to turn down the offer, but we have all the help we need," I said. "And I don't need anyone else in danger. Here's what I'll do. If we all die, then you can help."

"You're going to need all the help you can get," said Kay firmly. "You're fighting a battle that you can't win without a serious army."

"Yes," I said. It was true. Even a serious army probably wouldn't be able to defeat Ariel the way Kay obviously thought we were going to try. "Yes we are fighting a losing battle. But we fight on our own. And in the end, we know what it comes down to. It doesn't come down to how many people we have fighting against her. It doesn't come down to how much power we have. It comes down to Mirany and Ariel, alone. Nothing you can do will help then. Nothing _I_ can do will help then. So don't tell me that I'm going to need you. Because in the end I'm not. And then there's the possibility of another death on my shoulders."

Kay looked taken aback. So did Mirany. She obviously hadn't quite thought of the outcome of this that way. Neither had I, but I knew it was coming. I knew I wasn't going to be there when Mirany had the chance to finish it all. The dream Mirany was getting was warning her that she was going to die. It was warning her to be ready to face her demons alone. Because no one was going to be standing by her side. Mirany was taking the news better than Kay was though. Maybe she had thought about it, in some form or another. Maybe she just couldn't be surprised any more.

"I don't want the responsibility of watching over you," I said. "I don't need it, and I sure as hell don't think I could take it. I already have enough foolish 'heroes' trying to help me. You want to help? Stay out of my way."

But my problem was that Kay was in my way. She was in my way of the door.

"Kay, don't," Mirany warned.

"I don't care what you tell me," said Kay. "I am going to make sure that she doesn't destroy this planet. It's up to you whether I do that by your side or not."

I rolled my eyes.

"Do you honestly believe that you have what it takes to beat her?" I asked. "Sure, you can teleport. Great, you're a chameleon. Super, you can pull things out of thin air."

I dashed to one side of the hallway. Mirany's eyes followed me easily. Kay blinked and had to look around for a second before she found me again. I dashed back to my place, only this time I was leaning into Kay's ear.

"She's ten times faster than me."

I lifted Kay by her shoulder and held her as high as I could above me. Mirany would have found that child's play.

"Twenty times stronger than me."

My face morphed, but an angry Mirany was much scarier than some yellow eyes and a set of fangs.

"Fifty times more lethal."

I placed Kay back on the ground. She didn't look all too sure about herself any more.

_Scare tactics. Haven't seen those before Angel._

_Special occasions only._

"You wouldn't last two seconds against her," I said.

Kay didn't reply, just numbly stepped aside.

"One day Kay," I said, walking past her. "When this is all over. Then I'll consider it."

…

**MIRANY**

"I couldn't have contacted you without her help, you know," I said.

Angel nodded.

"I know," he said.

"So don't you think maybe you were a little harsh? Just a tad?"

Angel pulled the car over and turned to look at me.

"I've dealt with people all my life who just want to 'help'," he said. "But when they say they want to help, they don't mean 'I want to stand by you even when I know I will die', they mean 'I'll do what I can before it starts getting dangerous'. What they don't know is that once you're in the middle of the battlefield, you can't just turn around and say 'I'm not playing anymore'. When you're out there, fighting against whatever it is you're fighting, you're in it 'til the end."

"Angel, this is war," I said. "We need people. And you said it yourself, she's really good."

"You're showing your youth Mirany," said Angel, smiling ruefully. "Sometimes it's the people that are really good that need to stay behind. I don't need the responsibility of looking out for another person in this fight. And you saw her. The prospect of death would stop her in her tracks. I choose the people I work with for a reason; like you choose the people you work with. And we're looking for the same things. Loyalty, trust…Kay can't provide either of those things. She'd be loyal until it became a pain in the ass, and you didn't trust her even after she saved your life. If we had time, I would have said yes. I would have accepted her. But we don't have time. I can't train her to be like us when we're so close. When this is over, when we come out of this…"

"If we come out of this," I muttered.

"_When_ we come out of this," said Angel firmly, brushing my fringe out of my eyes. "When we come out of this, if she still wants to help us, then she can. But not before."

I thought I understood him…sort of. Angel could tell I wasn't all too sure about what he had just said.

"Don't worry about this Mirany," he said. "You're young. Enjoy it. Doesn't last."

I'd never fully grasped just how old Angel was until now. I'd always looked at him and seen the twenty-or-so-year-old that was sitting in front of me. But now I saw that he was nowhere, nowhere near that young. Angel had seen so much, had experienced more than you could in several life times. If ever there was a time when I was going to just shut up about something, this was it. Because Angel had been through wars. He'd seen what happened in all circumstances, and he made decisions accordingly. And for him to trust me enough to be fighting by my side without complaint…well, almost without complaint…was actually a very big thing. So I did shut up. Because Angel wasn't just a guy that was fighting with me anymore. Angel was a warrior, and I was beyond lucky to have him.


	32. Night of War

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**There are two quotes for this one, because I couldn't decide between the two and in the end I just went with both of them. Both of them are suitable, as far as I'm concerned anyway, and yes, for those of you who are wondering, I do like Doctor Who, but I promise you it is a coincidence that I am using their quotes. It's not my fault that they use quotes which suit perfectly. Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this one. Don't forget to review **

* * *

"_**I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demigods and would-be gods. Out of all that, out of the whole pantheon, if I believe in one thing, just one thing…I believe in her." – David Tennant as the Doctor**_

"_**Demons run when a good man goes to war." – River Song/Melody Pond (Doctor Who)**_

* * *

**ARIEL**

There was a slight quiver in the room around me. Everyone was ready. Everyone knew what was coming. And they were excited. I paced slowly in front of my humble little army.

"This is the night," I said loudly, making sure that not one of them missed a word. "This is the night where we will rise, or we will fall. There will be no in between after this night."

Everyone remained deadly silent. This wasn't one of those rallies that armies had, where after every pause the whole squadron would cheer their heads off. The vampires in front of me weren't standing in neat, straight lines. Everyone knew that this was the last speech I would make to them before tonight, and no one wanted to interrupt.

"There will be no more undecidedness after this night. After this night only one can reign."

A couple of the vampires looked like they really wanted to voice their agreement, but self-preservation got in their way.

"We mustn't underestimate out opponents," I continued. "The battle will be hard. Some of you…will fall."

Silence. No one moved a muscle or uttered a word.

"But know this," I said, standing still now, my voice growing louder. "You will fall on the side of victory!"

They seemed to believe that this was their cue to start cheering.

"Tonight, evil will triumph!"

More cheering.

"The Slayer has already taken many of our fellows, our friends," I said quietly. Everyone had to fall completely silent again to hear my words. "Tonight, if anything, I will make sure they are avenged. Tonight the Slayer dies!"

The cheering took the roof off.

…

**MIRANY**

"She's going to kill me," I groaned as I lay on my face on the floor. "She's going to just walk right up to me and snap my weak little next right in half."

"Get up," said Angel exasperatedly. "Come on. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and start to pose a challenge. Stop looking at me as thought I'm me. As tempting as that is, you should start trying to see me as Ariel."

I rolled my eyes. Boys and their egos. Angel dragged me to my feet and turned me around to face him.

"You are getting better," he said seriously. "You need to know that. You are getting better. You are getting stronger, quicker. You're perceiving what I'm about to do faster. But if you keep telling yourself that you're not, then you're not and we should just give up right now. Now wake up and fight properly."

He had gotten me up at three in the morning for this. It was now seven. I don't think Angel and I have ever trained for this long. I was exhausted.

"Ariel's not going to just give you a break just because you're tired," Angel had said when I had complained about his skewed idea of helping me.

I readied myself again, wanting to lie down right where I was and sleep to a much more reasonable time. I had been up late fighting vampires last night as well. They seemed to slowly be increasing in number. That was probably why Angel was so intent on training. We could all sense that something was coming.

But before Angel could attack, one of my housemaids had hurried in.

"Oh thank god," I muttered, letting my knees give out and lying face up on the floor this time. "If you could stall him for a really long time, I would really appreciate it."

Angel scowled and pulled me up again, clasping his arms around my waist so that I couldn't lie down again. Damn.

"A message just came for you ma'am," said the girl, handing me a small parcel.

"Thanks," I said. "But doesn't Sophia usually handle my mail?"

"It was hand delivered ma'am. She came right up to the door."

I wasn't really paying attention until I saw 'Slayer' scribbled on the top of the parcel in very old looking handwriting.

"She?" asked Angel.

"She um…I think I must have been daydreaming. She…was you ma'am."

"Yes well, can't say I don't blame her," I said. "Who wouldn't want to be me?"

_I could answer that one._

_But you won't._

"Thank you," I said and the girl left the room.

"So what does Ariel want with you now?" asked Angel, letting me go so that he could sit down against the wall.

"Open it," I said, tossing the parcel to him. "Find out."

"It's addressed to you," said Angel.

"Yeah, but I'm sick of being Ariel's play thing. If whatever's in there was intended to turn me into a monkey or something, I'd rather you open it," I said.

"Fair point," Angel muttered, sliding his finger under the paper and tearing the seal.

I sat down beside him and rested my head on his shoulder, yawning. I really needed to go back to sleep. The box inside the parcel was a simple little trinket box and where I would have hesitated to open it, Angel went right on ahead and threw the latch, lifting the lid quickly.

I pulled the note out before I focused on what else was inside.

"'Tonight we dance,'" I read. I read it again just to make sure. "Tonight we dance? What does that even mean?"

Angel pulled the gold coin out of the box and examined it as he ran it through his fingers.

"War," he said finally, showing me the symbol on the coin.

"Oh great. She probably _was_ Hitler," I muttered when I saw the swastika.

"Nah," said Angel. "Hitler was human…briefly."

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I didn't do it!" he insisted. "I had a soul already. Spike did."

"You know what? I don't wanna know," I said.

"Actually, he owed me quite a bit," said Angel, know that he was thinking about it.

"Angel! I don't wanna know," I said firmly.

"Sorry," said Angel. "But you know what this means right?"

"I'm guessing it doesn't mean that I get to go back to bed," I muttered.

"More training," Angel agreed, jumping to his feet and pulling me up with him.

How on earth could he possibly still have so much energy?

…

It was eleven o'clock before I got to collapse on the lounge and finally give my burning muscles a break. In fact, it wasn't just my muscles that were burning. I'm pretty sure every fiber in my body was objecting to the training session I had just had.

"You know, when I willing push myself the way you just pushed me, you tell me off and say I'm trying too hard," I said. "I've just figured out, you're a big hypocrite."

Angel took the beer out of my hand and threw it against the wall.

"You don't need that," he said before I could object.

"You couldn't just pour it down the sink, could you? You had to make a show of it," I commented.

"I'm a drama queen," said Angel casually, lifting my head and shoulders and sliding in underneath me. "Are you gonna use it?"

"The sword?" I asked.

I had been practicing with the sword that Angel had collected for two weeks now, but there was something about it that was off. It felt too powerful, and the balance of it was all out of whack.

"I don't know," I said. "It's the only thing that will stop her for good. Stop her from ever coming back again, but I don't like it. There's something about that sword Angel. I don't know what, but sometimes when I use it, it's so out of balance it's not funny, and then other times it's perfect. I just…I'm not sure about it."

"Take it with you at the very least," said Angel. "Then if it comes down to it you can use it."

_And hope that it decides to be balanced, otherwise I'm screwed._

"Everyone else ready?" I asked.

"Getting there," said Lilah, walking in. "And the two of you can do the lovey-dovey thing some other time. We're about to go to war."

"Good to see that you're ready," I said sarcastically, taking in her completely normal get up.

"Oh, you expected me to be fighting?" asked Lilah, looking down at her suit then shrugging. "Guess I just have a little self-preservation. But don't worry, I'm sending in a special ops team."

"Either you fight or no one from W.H. does," said Angel. "Don't want to be keeping an eye on them as well as whomever I'm fighting."

"Why does everybody think that we're all bad guys?" asked Lilah.

I raised my eyebrows at her.

"Do you want us to answer or have you already looked in the mirror this morning?" I asked.

Lilah scowled and slapped at my legs.

"Get up," she snapped.

"Ow! Hey! This is my very valuable down time!" I said indignantly. "He's been beating me up all morning."

"And if you don't get up in the next two seconds, I'll be beating you up as well," said Lilah. "I have something for you."

"Besides a knuckle sandwich?" I asked cautiously.

"Yes," Lilah hissed. "But I'm seriously considering giving you one of those too. Get. Up."

_Yet another thing to add to my growing list of why I hate Lilah. She doesn't let me rest. At all._

_Stop complaining._

_I don't see you getting up._

_I wasn't told to. Listen to your sister. Get up._

I grumbled to myself as I slowly got to my feet. About halfway there Lilah got impatient though and seized my ear, dragging me towards my room.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" I said, slapping at her hand, but she wouldn't let go. "Jeez, I'm up! I'm up!"

When Lilah finally released me, my ear was throbbing worse than the rest of me was. That bitch had a grip, not to mention that her ruddy talons had dug into my ear at the same time. Ow.

"What exactly do you have for me?" I asked, stepping nimbly out of Lilah's reach as I massaged my ear. "Please tell me it's not painful."

Lilah rolled her eyes and gestured for me to come over to the wardrobe which she was now standing in. Yes, I have a walk-in wardrobe. No, I don't know why you're surprised.

"Lilah, I'm pretty sure that nothing you've put in there will be of any use to me," I said. "The last time you raided my wardrobe I came home to find nothing but dresses."

"Not even this?" asked Lilah, holding up some sort of armor thing.

It was the sort of thing that you'd see Romans wearing in those movies about Roman wars or whatever. It was made of a simple, four-plated chest protector and a skirt of metal strips, with contracting shoulder plates. There was also a belt with two loops for sword sheaths, some holes for stakes, and a couple of clips which I was pretty sure were for throwing stars. It actually wasn't too bad really.

"I figure Ariel's probably got one and I thought you could use one too," said Lilah.

"How do you know my exact measurements?" I asked, slipping the armor on easily.

"Let's not go there," said Lilah simply.

"Right," I muttered, examining the belt. "Thanks Lily."

Lilah smirked.

"Don't thank me yet. You haven't won yet."

"Wrong," said Angel from the doorway.

He straightened the shoulder plates.

"We may not have battled yet," he said. "But we've already won."

A glance at Lilah confirmed that she didn't understand any better than I did. Angel stood back, taking in my appearance.

"Yeah," he said. "You'll do."

…

"The moment you see Ariel, take off," said Angel, sliding sheaths into the loops on my belt. "Lead her away from where she might have the advantage."

He looked like he wasn't sure about saying what he was thinking.

"Somewhere like an alley," he said finally.

"Yes, because we all know how well that scenario plays out," I muttered.

"You've never seen how that scenario plays out," said Angel. "You only think you know. But you've changed things since the first time you found out Mirany. That dream might not even come into play anymore."

"I've been getting it every night Angel," I said, grunting as he tightened the chest plates. "I'm pretty sure it still comes into play."

"Alright then, but you still don't know how it ends," said Angel. "You're only filling in what you think is going to happen. When it finally comes down to it, try to have an open mind."

Sword 1 went into Sheath 1. This was the sword that I would use for as long as possible. Sword 2 went into Sheath 2. This was the sword that would rid the world of Ariel forever. While I'd probably never have to deal with Ariel again if I killed her without this sword, I wasn't all too pleased about leaving someone else to deal with her when she next rose again.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" asked Angel as he clipped in the throwing stars. "You don't have to do this you know. You could leave town. Leave it to us."

"Oh yeah, because then I'd be able to live with myself," I said sarcastically. "At least I know if we fall tonight, we fall together."

Angel slid stakes into the belt and tightened it. I looked into his eyes and could see the worry in his features.

"I don't know how long it will be before we get split up," he said. "So I'm going to say it now."

He placed his hand on my shoulder.

"You are…amazing," he said. "And when you're out there tonight…be careful. Please. I want to see you coming out of that alley alive."

Oh god. He was making me cry. I turned away, but he grabbed my shoulder and turned me back around, kissing me fiercely.

"Oh," I breathed when we parted. "So not dying tonight."

Angel grinned and slapped me on the back.

"Then let's go," he said, grabbing a sword.

…

There were vampires, lots, but not nearly as many as we had been prepared for. But as we fought, there was no sign of the vampire we were fighting against.

"Don't you think it's a little strange?" Connor asked as we were backed up against each other, vampires bearing down from all sides. "She's the one who started this. Where the hell is she?"

"Beats me!" I yelled back, swinging at a couple of vampires as they got a little too close for comfort. "But you won't hear me complaining. Boost me!"

Connor wasted no time in turning round and flinging me off his knee, letting me jump right over the circle around us, slicing at necks with speed to rival Ariel's and landing cat like on the ground behind the cloud of dust.

"Hell yes. Take that you leeches!"

_Mirany, ten o'clock._

I spun around and grinned as my stake hit its target with perfect precision.

"Nice one," Angel commented, as the dust blew away.

I looked around. Everyone seemed to be holding their own pretty well. But there was still no sign of Ariel.

"Something's not right about this picture," I said.

"Is it the lack of a psychopathic, homicidal, maniac vampiress?" asked Cordelia, ducking a punch towards her jaw.

"That'd be the one," I said, kicking the vampire in the stomach and sending him tumbling into two behind him.

"Maybe she's ill," said Cordelia.

"Maybe she's got a plan for once," said Angel. "Biding her time."

"The day Ariel has a plan will be a very bad day indeed," said Wesley.

"Heads!" Lilah yelled.

We all ducked as her sword whizzed through the air just above us, chopping easily through necks before landing back in Lilah's hand.

"Literally," she said.

"Boomerang sword," I muttered. "I have got to get me one of those."

_Half a mile down, top of the buildings on your right. Better start running now if you want to get anywhere at all._

Angel's uncanny ability to spot anything from anywhere was a huge advantage in getting a head start on Ariel, who was indeed making her way swiftly towards the fray from the rooftops of the buildings not far away.

"Catch ya later," I said, taking off down a side street and away from the battle.

_Be careful._

_You worry too much._

_When it comes to you, I don't think I worry enough._

Typical. I was about to face off against a very nasty, very strong vampire and he was making jokes. At least…I hoped he was.

Ariel had noticed my absence from the fight and was following close behind me. I could hear her landing on roof after roof as I tore through streets in the best maze I could. It didn't help that she was on rooftops where she couldn't run into people, but down here there were a few more people than I had anticipated. Luckily for me, those that caught sight of me before I ran into them got out of my way pretty darn fast.

I turned a corner and continued through the street before I could notice anything familiar about it. But when I reached the dead end, I realized. This was it. This was the alley. I heard Ariel drop to the ground at the mouth of it and spun around, gripping the sword tightly. The dream was already wrong. I wasn't scared. Not this time. Well, I was, but not quite as openly as I had been in my dreams.

"You never cease to amaze me Slayer," said Ariel. It was too dark to see her yet, but she was close. "I have done everything I can and yet you still jump right back. I have to commend you for your resilience if nothing else. Although, your idiocy in bringing me all the way here should be commended as well. After all, you set the perfect trap…for yourself. You honestly believe you can beat me? You think that you will stand a chance? Ha, you're a fool. Are you ready to die Slayer?"

"Not really, no," I said conversationally, unclasping two of the stars and running them through my fingers. "Call me crazy but…I'm young. Still have a while to go."

"Ha. If you're lucky."

"Oh, luck has nothing to do with it," I said coldly.

I still couldn't see her, but it hadn't stopped me before. I threw the stars in the direction of her voice, her smell, and the sharp intake of breath I heard told me I had hit my mark, even if it was only by a scrape.

"Oh Slayer, you'll pay for that."

Red eyes blared through the darkness moments before Ariel launched at me. She did have armor on. Not exactly as easy-to-move-in armor as me, but being as fast as she was, a little restricted movement probably wasn't much on an issue. She also had a sword, and they met midair. I could see already healing scratch marks on her wrist. She'd clearly deflected the stars, but not in the best of ways really.

I strained to keep my sword up as she bore down on me, but in this one instant, I had the advantage of being up against the wall. I lifted my legs and kicked her hard in the solar plexus. It didn't hurt her, but it sent her flying all the same. She jumped back to her feet and swung at me wildly.

"Your sword skills could use a little work," I commented, blocking her. "You come off as a little obvious."

She growled and flicked her sword up, catching me at the base of my palm and slipping my sword right out of my hand. I bit my lip as she sliced through the skin, leaving a nice gash in my good hand. But she wasn't Angel and she didn't give me a moment's pause, jabbing straight at my chest. I ducked and rammed my elbow into her nose.

She staggered backwards then came at me again. I narrowly avoided having my arm chopped off and lashed out at her legs, but she was already out of reach, which sent me off balance and into the ground.

Her having a sword put me at a rather large disadvantage, but I wasn't ready to see whether or not my other sword wanted to agree with me or not.

"That all you got?" I snapped.

She snarled and stabbed downwards towards me. I rolled out of the way, but I wasn't quite fast enough, and she managed to stab the side of my arm. I didn't have time to look, but if I had, I was almost positive that I would be able to see bone. Probably a good thing I could look. I grunted in pain and frog kicked her in the face as I jumped back to my feet. The satisfying crack of her jaw wasn't satisfying for very long as she swung viciously at me with the blade and landed a solid blow on my armor. It might not have killed me, but it sure as hell hurt as she dented the plate right above my ribs.

I ducked another swing but she had me as I came back up. She pressed me up against the wall, sword to my throat.

"Any last words?" she growled.

_Hmm. Slightly sticky situation._

_Sword Mirany. Use the bloody sword._

I hadn't expected Angel to have been able to hear me, but I didn't show my surprise. I still really didn't trust that sword, but at this point, I couldn't really say I had a choice.

"Yeah," I said, ignoring the pain in my hand as I gripped the hilt of the sword. "Don't drop your guard."

I swung straight up and under Ariel's armor. Now I was really glad that Angel had tightened the armor as much as he had. It took concentration to breathe, but at least there wasn't any room to stick a lethal blade up it.

Apparently, the sword liked me tonight, and it balanced easily as I slid it through Ariel's stomach. She looked shocked and dropped her sword, before following it to the ground. I stood above her as she stared at me.

"You know what your one big mistake was?" I asked. "Thinking that I was nothing more than another Slayer. I'm not. And because of this, you're going to die tonight. How does it feel Ariel? To have lived so long and then be killed because you underestimated someone?"

_Mirany. Just do it._

"I feel sorry for you. I'm sorry that you felt your only choice was to be against me. I'm sorry that something in your past made you hate good so much. And you know what? I hope you feel peace after this. I really do."

If anything could have injured Ariel, it was this. The idea that her enemy took pity on her, and I could see it in her eyes. The hate and the hurt.

"Say goodnight," I said, swinging the sword above my head and bringing it down on her.

When I killed vampires, they burst into dust straight away. But not Ariel. She didn't burst into dust. She crumbled until she was finally just a thin layer of ash on the pavement. I left the sword there. The moment Ariel had died, it had become unbalanced again. It would probably never be balanced again. It had served its purpose. It was as dead as the person it had just killed.

…

**ANGEL**

I saw Ariel die through Mirany's eyes, and I felt Mirany's anger as she did it. I leant against the wall, waiting for Mirany to come back out.

_Demons run when a good man goes to war…_

"…Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war. Friendship dies and true love lies, night will fall and dark will rise, when a good man goes to war. Demons run but count the cost. The battle's won but the child is lost," Mirany groaned.

I watched Mirany slide down the wall as she said this. She was bleeding badly from a wound on her arm, her right hand had a fairly serious looking gash in it, and one of the chest plates was fairly well dented. It wouldn't have surprised me if she had a few cracked ribs because of it. She looked up at me.

"I'm not lost, am I?"

"You don't look lost to me," I said, smiling at her.

"How'd you find me?" she asked. "I thought I'd run a pretty good maze there."

"I was right behind you the whole time," I said.

"She's gone," she said.

I nodded.

"I know," I said.

Mirany swallowed.

"I killed her."

"I would think so," I said. "She wasn't really the suicidal type in my opinion."

"But I didn't kill her," said Mirany, looking up at me. "I killed me."

"I don't…"

"You heard me, right? You heard me talking to her?"

I nodded slowly.

"I wasn't talking to her," she said, staring into space. "I was talking to me."

I sat down beside her and rested my hand on her shoulder.

"Mirany, you have been through so much," I said. "Too much. But don't you dare. Don't you dare think, for one moment, that you're no better than Ariel because you are. And I would not have spent all this time with you, making you a better person, if I knew that you'd be just as bad as she was. So don't tell me that you were talking to yourself because you weren't. Six months ago…yeah, you probably would have been. But not anymore. You are so much better now."

Mirany stared at me.

"Really?" she asked. "Am I really…"

"Yes," I said, cutting her off and pulling her to her feet. "Now come on. Let's get you home."


	33. The Truth Hurts

"_**The truth is a beautiful and terrible thing and should therefore be treated with extreme caution." – Albus Dumbledore**_

* * *

"She's being a complete nightmare! Won't listen to reason at all!" said Wesley angrily as he and Angel walked into the lobby.

"Who's being a complete nightmare and won't listen to reason at all?" I asked. "Besides me obviously, because you have to have stopped complaining about that by now. I mean, that's just my natural personality."

"Mirany! Just the person we needed to see," said Angel, grinning a grin that told me quite clearly I should _not_ have asked if I didn't want to get involved. "Good evening."

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Now that I know you'll force me into doing something that you probably think will benefit someone when it actually won't, why don't you cut with the pleasantries and tell me what it is that I'm going to have to do?"

"Talk some sense into Cordelia!" said Wesley.

"Sort of like a female bonding session," said Angel.

I gaped at them.

"You have _got_ to be joking," I said.

"Surprise," said Angel. "We're not."

"Talk to Cordelia about what?" I asked.

"Her new boyfriend," said Angel.

"He's a troll," said Wesley.

"Okay, Wes, just because you're jealous doesn't mean that I should have to get involved," I said.

"No, you don't understand," said Angel.

"He's a literal troll," said Wesley. "And I'm not jealous!"

I looked from Angel to Wesley and back again.

"And you think I'm going to believe this because…?"

"It's true?" Angel tried.

"You mean to tell me that you're volunteering me to tell Cordelia that her boyfriend is a troll with no proof what-so-ever to convince either me _or_ her?" I asked. "Maybe you wanna try again."

"We're serious Mirany, he's a troll," said Wesley.

"Okay, the joke's over now," I said pointedly.

"And yet we're not laughing," said Angel.

"Because it's not funny," said Wesley.

"Because it's not a joke," said Angel.

The possibility that Cordelia's boyfriend could be a troll was absolutely zero, but the way these two were going on about it was beginning to have an effect on me.

"Okay, let's say, for the sake of argument, that what you're saying is true…" I started.

"It is!" said Wesley indignantly.

"…how exactly can you two clearly see that he's a troll, while Cordelia can't?" I asked, ignoring Wesley.

"Trolls have powers of their own," said Angel. "They can make people see them as human, but because this one doesn't seem to care what anyone else sees as long as Cordelia thinks he's human, we can see that he's a troll."

"So take a picture of him," I said. "Why do I have to talk to her? She wouldn't listen to a word I said to her anyway."

"A troll's magic doesn't just abate when they've left the room," said Wesley. "Whenever Cordelia sees him or an image of him, she'll think he's the guy she going out with, not some ugly old troll."

"And she would listen to you if say…oh I don't know…you let her buy you a new wardrobe," said Angel.

"Okay, now you've really lost your mind," I said, turning away from them. "And to think I came here of my own free will. You know, every time I do that, something bad happens."

"It's not _that_ bad," said Angel. "A couple of hours and a platinum credit card and she might be able to make you look even better than you do now."

"She's not touching my credit card," I said firmly.

Angel wrapped his arms around my waist, but I remained stony. He was _not_ going to be able to bribe me into this.

"I'll make it up to you," he whispered in my ear.

"No," I said. "Forget it. I am not going to…oh my god. Please tell me that smell is just my imagination."

"He's a troll," said Wesley simply. "They eat garbage."

"They eat anything," said Angel, who appeared to have stopped his breathing habit in the presence of the smell which was steadily growing worse.

_Lucky bastard._

"We tried to warn you," said Wesley, moving very quickly into his office.

Angel pulled me into his and gestured at the window.

"Proof enough for you?"

Cordelia had just walked in with some sort of ugly looking, greenish, blobby thing, which had a vaguely human shape to it. She was holding its disgusting looking hands and I had to look away as she leant in to kiss it.

"Okay," I muttered. "There are not a lot of things that will gross me out, but that most definitely does."

"Still not gonna talk to her?" asked Angel, wrapping his arm around my waist as he watched Cordelia and the troll talk.

I grimaced. What was worse? Having a troll hanging around, or going on a shopping spree with Cordelia? It was quite honestly one of the hardest decisions I'd ever made.

…

"Cordelia…hi," I said, leaving Angel's office much later when the troll had finally taken its leave.

Cordelia looked between me and Angel's door, eyebrow raised.

"Hi," she said, her tone implying absolutely everything she was thinking.

_I don't want to do this._

_Too late now._

_She thinks we just had sex on your desk or something._

_She's pretty darn close._

I scowled.

"What do you want Mirany?" asked Cordelia, picking up a magazine and opening it.

"W…well…I was just…I know the shops aren't open now seeing as its late and all…"

Cordelia looked up at me. She knew what I was going to say, but she was going to make me say it anyway. Grrr.

"But I was wondering if…"

_And here I go, selling my soul._

_For heaven's sake Mirany, just do it already._

"I was wondering if you wanted to take me shopping," I said, so quietly that I could barely hear myself. But Cordelia heard. She seemed to have bionic hearing when it came to shopping.

A wicked grin spread on Cordelia's face.

"Do you have any idea how long I have waited to hear those words come out of your mouth?" she asked.

"Since you first met me?" I guessed.

"Exactly."

I gulped. She was going to destroy my entire look in one go. One shopping spree and suddenly I was going to look like a miniature Cordelia. I hoped to god that didn't mean that I was going to attract trolls as well.

…

Angel looked up as Cordelia pulled me into the hotel against my will. I was _not _wearing what I had been wearing this morning. Gone were my comfortable jeans, my casual button down shirt and my old yet trusty sneakers. They were stuffed somewhere in the bottom of one of the thousands of bags that was now filling up most of the space in my once uncontaminated-by-clothes Jag. And yes, that does mean what you think it does. Now I was wearing the smallest mini skirt Cordelia could find, a tank top that didn't have sleeves but just tied up at the back of my neck, and heels about three inches long. Three inches too long as far as I was concerned. If this woman _never _took me clothes shopping again it would be too soon.

I had bought everything she had wanted me to. Angel had told me to get her in a good mood, and for once, I was with him on that. No girl wants to hear that her boyfriend is a troll, but at least if she was in a good mood when she heard it, she might not kill me. _Might_ not.

"Look," said Cordelia happily. "She looks like a girl!"

I growled and reluctantly let her twirl me around like a ballerina. Angel was smirking.

"You look nice," he said.

_If nice is the best I get then you owe me seven-thousand, two-hundred and fourteen bucks._

"You look better than nice," he amended. He looked like he was trying hard not to laugh at my obvious discomfort. "Amazing."

_Some boyfriend you are._

_Never said I would protect you from Cordelia._

"And guess what she's going to do when she gets home?" asked Cordelia.

_Plot revenge._

Angel smirked.

"She's going to pack up all her old junk and replace it with everything we bought," said Cordelia happily. "We had to get some of it delivered straight to her house. Wouldn't fit in the car."

_Only seven-thousand huh?_

_I stopped counting at seven-thousand. More was spent, but I don't wanna know._

_You're a multi-billionaire. I'm sure you'll live._

_The day will come Angel when you will regret saying that._

_Got any witnesses that can say I said it?_

I scowled at him.

"Well, I think this should be seen by everyone," said Angel, getting to his feet. "I'll go get the others."

I whimpered as he left.

_Mirany, I'm not getting anyone. Talk to her._

_Oh, right._

"Uh, Cordelia?" I asked. "I was wondering if maybe you had noticed anything strange about…Darren was it?"

"Strange?" asked Cordelia, sitting down. "Not at all. He's amazing. He's really handsome, don't you think? You saw him while he was here last night right?"

"Yeah," I said, wishing I hadn't. "Yeah I did smell…uh…see him. But um…handsome isn't quite the word I would use…"

"I know," sighed Cordelia.

"You do?" I asked.

"There aren't words to describe his beauty," she sighed.

I gagged.

"Cordelia, I'm going to tell you something now, and…you're probably not gonna like it," I said, tottering over to her in too high heels.

"Ugh, don't tell me he's your ex. Isn't there _one_ cute guy on the planet that you haven't slept with or know in some form or another?"

_Can I kill her? Please? It'd solve your problem._

_Mirany…_

_I know, I know, talk._

"Cordelia…Darren's a troll," I said.

Cordelia paused halfway through her reminiscing about 'Darren's' hair to stare at me like I was insane.

"What?" she asked. "No he's not."

"Uh…yeah, last time I checked, he was," I said.

Cordelia frowned at me.

"I get it," she said slowly.

"Oh thank god. I mean, some people would take the news really badly and I'm so glad you didn't because otherwise you might have done something…"

"You're jealous."

I was stopped in my tracks.

"Wh…what?" I stammered. "Cordelia…he's a troll!"

"No, he's not," said Cordelia, getting to her feet defiantly. "Just because you're jealous that you don't have someone nearly has amazing as him doesn't mean you should make up downright lies about him!"

"Yes, he is," I said, following suit. "And I'm pretty sure that a vampire beats a troll any day."

Angel was coming back down the stairs now, Connor following. Cordelia glared at me for a second, then raised her hand and slapped me right in the face.

The room was deadly silent as I processed what had happened and whether or not I would strangle her in return. Angel and Connor looked completely shocked. Cordelia was still glaring. I closed my eyes and pressed my lips together tightly, not trusting myself to speak.

Then I started laughing. I had no idea why. Maybe it was just that she was stupid enough to consider slapping me, maybe it was just the way I processed shock. Whatever the reason, I was laughing.

"I can't believe you just did that," I chuckled. "To think you have the NERVE!"

Cordelia took an unconscious step back.

_Mirany, calm down._

I ignored him.

"I don't know if you've noticed yet Cordelia, but I'm the Slayer. And for you to think that you'd be able to get away with slapping me…"

I was shaking. Angel had vaulted over the railing of the stairs, landing gently on the floor ten feet below the stairs and was making his way over to me.

"…then maybe I'm not doing my job right," I growled. "Maybe I need to show you just how _dangerous_ I am."

Angel had taken hold of my arm.

"Mirany walk away," he said quietly in my ear. "You knew she might retaliate. You told me you could handle it. Prove it. Walk away."

I shook my arm out of his grip, kicking off those ridiculous heels as I went. Like I was ever going to wear them again after today. Cordelia and I were both looking daggers at each other.

"Mirany! Walk away!" Angel snapped.

"I tried to warn you," I growled at her. "When you find out what he really is, don't even think about coming to me. I won't be listening."

I stalked out of the door, already trying to decide the best way to destroy the clothing I had bought. Most people would donate it, but _nobody_ should be subjected into wearing _anything_ like what I was wearing now.

…

"No!" I said firmly. "No, I'm not helping her."

"Then help us!" said Connor. "If I have to make friendly conversation with him one more time I think I'm going to shoot myself!"

"Oh yes, now I'm going to help," I said sarcastically.

"Mirany, come on," said Angel. "So she slapped you, so what? It's not as though you weren't expecting it."

I glared at him as I tightened the laces on my comfortable, dorky, falling apart sneakers.

"If you think for one moment that I am going to help you, you are very, very wrong, and possibly very, very stupid depending on why you think I would help. It's not my problem! I don't live there!"

"Mirany, I didn't want to resort to this, but if you don't help us get rid of it I will tell everyone you know about what happened a couple of nights ago at Dan's bar," said Angel.

I paused, trying to remember what had happened. Assuming my memory was reliable there had been some dancing, some singing and…oh.

"You wouldn't dare," I growled.

"Connor," said Angel promptly. "Do you wanna know…?"

"Alright!" I said, cutting in before he could say any more. "I will help. But if you leave me in a room alone with her, don't blame me if she ends up dead."

"Who should we blame then? The butler?" asked Connor sarcastically.

"Connor, if you want to keep your manlihood, then I'd suggest you shut up," I said pointedly, walking past him to the door. "I'll meet ya there. There's something I have to take care of first."

"There's no rush. It's not as if there's a troll on the loose or anything," I heard Angel mutter just as I walked out.

Oh, how I wanted to turn around and hit him.

…

I spun around, blocking the fist with my forearm and jabbed the guy in the face, knocking him out, before turning back to the other three. One of them had a bottle and was waving it threateningly at me, the other two were just gonna go with fists. It was the third gang I'd fought in the past hour, and none of them matched up at all to just one slightly trained vampire. I'd already knocked two of these guys unconscious and they were only now just using weapons? These guys needed to get brains, stat.

"You're on our turf girly," growled one.

"We'll crush you!" another one snarled.

"Oh yes, like the other two did," I said sarcastically.

The one with the bottle dived at me. I grabbed his wrist and brought the bottle up to his forehead, smashing it on his skull. He dropped like a stone.

"Next," I said, doing my best to sound bored. In truth, fighting anything was better than figuring out how to get rid of a troll, so I wasn't complaining.

The two ran at me at the same time. I lashed out at one with my foot and seized my motorcycle helmet, pelting it at the other. The one I'd kicked went sprawling but got back to his feet; the one who got hit by the helmet wasn't quite so fortunate and just lay groaning on the ground.

"You have three seconds to run away if you would like to, otherwise I'm going to have to seriously hurt you," I said.

He took the smart option and sped away from me as fast as his beefy little feet could go. I picked up my helmet and knelt down next to the one who'd been hit by it.

"Don't take it personally," I said. "You're not the only ones who think you're stronger than you actually are."

…

"Where have you been?" asked Connor. "It's been like…"

He checked his watch.

"Two hours since you left."

"Just…running errands," I said casually.

Angel was staring at me, but not in the 'I don't believe you' way or the 'do you really think we're that thick' sort of way either. It was more the 'I'm reading your mind and when I find out what you've been doing you're gonna be in big trouble' sort of stare. I looked away from him quickly, determined to make his job harder for him.

_God he looks pretty._

Angel snorted.

"So what did I miss?" I asked.

"Nothing, because we were waiting for you," said Connor pointedly.

"Sorry," I said, noticing that Angel was at it again.

_Man, I want to just push him up against the wall and…_

_Stop avoiding me Mirany._

I glared at him defiantly.

_Whatever do you mean?_

_What were you doing?_

_When?_

Angel rolled his eyes.

_Never mind. I'll find out sooner or later._

I really, really hoped not. I doubted he would approve all that much of my new hobby.

"So…what? We swing a couple of axes?" I asked.

"Cordelia would have our heads if we took his," said Wesley. "We have to break his spell first before we do anything else."

"But it's a darn powerful spell. How are we supposed to break it?" asked Connor.

"Well gosh darn it! We migh' 'ave ta use our 'eads for this 'un," I said, doing a bad mockery of Connor's choice of words as I sat down next to Angel.

Connor did not look amused, but he didn't snap back.

"What? I threaten your penis _once_ and now you're never gonna retaliate again? Kinda takes the fun out of insulting you," I muttered.

Connor rolled his eyes and turned away. His mood swings were becoming more and more aggravating. One moment he was perfectly alright to sit and talk to me, even if I was pulled into Angel's chest or whatever, and then the next he wasn't going to say a word to me, even if it was just us alone. He really needed to sort out his issues.

"I think we should find where it lives," said Angel. "A troll's source of power isn't a part of the troll itself, it's generally some sort of portable item. But because none of us see it as human, we can assume that it's not carrying it around. Most logical place to look would be where it lives. Either that or somewhere at Cordelia's."

"And either way it means that Cordelia was targeted," said Wesley. "Why?"

"Because she's just as much of a troll as it is?" I suggested. "Maybe it wants to mate."

They all scowled at me.

"Or not," I muttered, sinking into the couch and grumbling to myself.

"Doesn't matter," said Angel. "We don't need a reason, we just need it gone."

"I still think we should just swing an axe at its neck," I grumbled.

"No!" all three of them said firmly.

I sunk even further into the cushions, angrily ignoring all of them.

_Your temper could do with some work._

_So could your face._

_Watch it Mirany._

I poked my tongue out at him and folded my arms over my chest, firmly signaling that I didn't care.

_Very mature Mirany. Very mature._

_Shove it out your ear._

_Why not my…?_

_Because the stick up it is blocking the way._

Angel sighed.

_I'll deal with you later._

"So, Connor, Wes, go see if you can get any intel about where a possible troll hideout might be. If you haven't found anything by sundown I'll join you. If you do find something, come back here, we'll check it out when we know that Cordelia's keeping it busy."

"Better hope she's not keeping it too busy," I said. "Because that's just disgusting."

It was uncanny how the three of them could all feel the same thing at the same time and I sunk as far into the couch as possible under the glare of three very exasperated looks.

"Mirany and I will figure out how to reverse whatever it's doing to Cordelia," said Angel.

"Alright. Field trip," said Connor. "I'm driving."

"You can barely walk straight. How on earth do you think you'll do any better in a car?" I asked.

"And you're coming with me," said Angel, dragging me to my feet before Connor could reply and pulling me into his office. "Drop the attitude."

"What attitude?" I asked. "I'm just being my charming old self. I still don't see why you trust him with your car."

"Mirany, sit down," said Angel, massaging his temples.

I sat down, giving him an apologetic look.

"You did blackmail me," I pointed out. "That'd make anyone a little sour."

"Yes, but when it's you its sooo much worse," Angel muttered, crouching in front of me and rolling up his sleeve. "So I'm really, really hoping that all this is just withdrawal symptoms."

"Angel, you agreed you would help me try to break this thing," I said.

"I did," Angel sighed. "But you are slowly draining me of all my patience. And that's quite the accomplishment. Just take the blood Mirany."

I crossed my arms and glared at him.

"Mirany, I don't want to force this, but I will," he warned.

I raised my eyebrows briefly, daring him to try. That was the problem with the whole blood bond thing. I kept forgetting that he could actually control me if he wanted to. He didn't most of the time, but apparently I didn't have a choice in the matter this time. He straightened up and came around behind me. I made to get up but I found out that I couldn't move.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," he said, pulling the knife I concealed at my waist from my belt and slicing into his forearm, holding the dripping wound to my mouth.

I really didn't want to, but he didn't even need to force me as I smelt the god damn stuff. Reluctantly yet somehow eagerly, I sucked at the wound. A sense of calmness ran through me as I drank. God, I hated how much I needed this. I swear I was turning into some sort of human vampire.

"Oh, gross, I'll come back," said Cordelia, turning to leave the office.

I let go of Angel's arm at once, jumping to my feet and hurrying to the corner. My back faced the rest of the room as I wiped the blood away from my mouth, running my tongue over my teeth, savoring the taste of Angel's blood.

_Oh my god. This _has_ to stop._

"What do you need Cordelia?" asked Angel as I rested my forehead on the wall. The blood thing was supposed to be private. People were _not_ supposed to walk in on it. Particularly not Cordelia.

"Uh…there's someone outside," said Cordelia. I could tell she was wondering what on earth I was doing as I progressed from resting to banging my head softly on the wall. "But I can deal with it if you're busy."

"I'll be out in a minute," said Angel.

The door closed and I jumped as Angel's hand slid over my shoulder. I turned, hugging myself tightly, and before I could say anything he had pulled me into his chest.

"This has to stop," I said again.

"Mirany, it was only a matter of time before someone walked in," said Angel. "Don't let it bother you."

"But I…" I started.

"Shh," Angel ordered, holding me out by my shoulders. "I better go see what this is about. Don't leave. I'll be back."

He left the office and I stood in the corner for a few moments before deciding I wasn't going to wait, slipping quietly out of the door. The man that had come in was sitting with his back to me, so was Cordelia, but Angel saw me pass by.

_Mirany, come on. Stay._

I ignored him and left the hotel quickly.

_Mirany, what do you want me to say?_

I paused as I climbed on the motorcycle.

_I want you to say that there's a way I can stop this._

Angel didn't reply. He didn't need to. We'd already been through this. There was no way I could survive without blood now. I kicked the bike into life and drove away, hurt, confused, embarrassed, and above all, fuming.

_It had to me, didn't it? Don't let's have anyone else suffer through this because that would just be stupid. We have to keep on testing Mirany, because she's fun to test. Just keep doling on the suffering. Oh, and don't forget the pressure. The pressure just makes it even more amusing. Well thank you God. Thank you so bloody much._

_Thought you were an atheist._

_Well I can't exactly blame science for this one, can I?_

Angel seemed to take the hint. I was not in a conversing sort of mood.

_Just give me a call when you get home, alright?_

_Wasn't planning on going home just yet._

_Mirany, whatever you're doing, don't put yourself in danger._

_Can't make any promises._

…

I banged their heads together as they both charged at me and threw them aside roughly. In the beginning there had been ten to one odds. Now, it was three to one. It was too bad this lot weren't vampires. Vampires were such a better challenge. And it was dark and everything. Vampires were supposed to be out by now. I slipped past the knife that one of them jabbed at my ribs and kicked him hard in the groin. He fell to the ground, whimpering.

_Behind you._

I reacted to the attacker before I realized what that meant and sent the idiot flying twenty feet away. In his place, I could see Angel leaning against the wall ten feet down the alley and froze. Stupid move. I was rammed into the wall as the last guy drilled me by his head. Football players. Always with the drill tackles. I chopped down on his back and he let go at once, falling to the ground, where he was met by my foot and knocked thoroughly unconscious.

"Busted," Angel said quietly.

I ignored him and turned towards the mouth of the alley, but he was already blocking the way.

"I can understand the whole 'I'm stopping them from hurting anyone' mentality that you've got going here," he said, gripping my arms lightly. "But eventually you're going to run into a gang that owns a gun. And when you begin to knock them out, they're not going to hesitate. They're going to shoot you."

This wasn't exactly the track I had thought he was going to go off on. I thought we was going to start giving me the 'don't attack humans' lecture, but I think he figured that every now and then, he beat up the occasional gang as well.

"Don't put yourself in that sort of danger Mirany," he said. "If you were meant to fight gangs, you'd be bullet proof. You're not. You're meant to fight vampires and demons, which have their own lethal weapons. Please Mirany."

"I thought…" I started.

"I know," said Angel. "I've thought it too."

He tucked the knife he had taken from me earlier back into my belt and held an axe in front of my nose.

"Wanna come kill a troll?" he asked.

I smiled guiltily and took the axe. He kissed me softly.

"I don't want anything to happen to you Mirany," he said. "I've already nearly lost you recently. I don't need to go through that again."

"Sorry?" I tried.

"Oh, you're gonna be sorry," said Angel, seizing me by the shoulders and pulling me out of the alley. "Just wait 'til I get you in the gym."

I swallowed.

…

"You were right," said Cordelia. She sounded stunned. "I can't believe you were right. And to think I was about to…oh my god."

She stared at me.

"I am always going to listen to you from now on," she said.

I rolled my eyes and shifted so that I was lying pointed away from her, determined not to be distracted from my sword sharpening.

"Hey," said Cordelia, sitting down on the edge of the couch I was lying on. "I didn't mean to walk in on you and Angel like that."

"Cordelia, I have a sword," I said pointedly.

"You must be so proud," said Cordelia, brushing the threat aside. "I'm sorry. I know you don't like it."

"Don't like drinking Angel's blood, or being walked in on?" I asked sourly.

"Both," said Cordelia.

I lowered the sword. No way could I concentrate on sharpening it while I was concentrating on not bursting into tears from the stress of everything going on.

"I can't help you with it," she said. "But…you shouldn't be ashamed of it Mirany."

"I'm not…"

"Mirany, you didn't try to become the wall just because you were surprised I walked in," said Cordelia pointedly. "Believe it or not, you drinking Angel's blood isn't the weirdest thing that we see around here, and it certainly isn't the most disgusting. So don't be so embarrassed or whatever if someone happens to walk in on you. It's just blood. He drinks it all the time."

"He's a vampire, he's allowed to," I snapped.

"You're a wolf, you have an excuse as well," said Cordelia. "I know you don't like it, but it's not that bad. Really. Do it in private if you want but you don't need to be so embarrassed if someone sees. Think about it. We behead things every other night. Do you honestly think that we're going to care in the long run?"

I stared after her as she walked away, tossing the sword back onto the coffee table and running my hands through my hair. Being me was _way_ too stressful.

"She's right you know," said Angel, appearing above my head.

"How long were you there?" I asked.

"From the 'you becoming the wall' bit," said Angel, leaning against the back of the couch as I looked up at him. But I wasn't really looking at him. I was sort of looking through him at the ceiling, hoping it would come crashing down on me any time now.

"Great," I muttered. "Just spectacular."

"I didn't realize you hated it so much," said Angel.

"Hate's the wrong word to use," I said carefully. "At the time I usually love it. That's my problem. I don't actually know whether I like it or not. I wouldn't be able to tell you the truth about how I felt about it because I don't even know. In my mind, when I think about it like I was a moment ago, I can't stand it. I just want it to stop. But sometimes all I want is to…do you get what I mean?"

"Yeah. I know what you mean. I mean, sometimes I love you and sometimes I just want to strangle you so…"

I slapped him on what I believed was his thigh, but I couldn't be sure whether his smirk was just because of his joke or not.

"I wish I did know though," I said. "Then I could just love it or hate it, you know? I wouldn't have any of this bloody undecidedness."

I sat up, running my hands through my hair again in frustration.

"Why can't things just be simple?" I asked. "Why does everything always have to be blurred around the edges?"

Angel sat down beside me, taking my hand.

"Because that's just how the world works," he said. "It's not fun, and it's certainly not very straightforward. There are just some things that aren't meant to be figured out."

"Yeah but, blood drinking? Can't be that hard," I said.

"Mirany, stop thinking about it," said Angel. "You can't live without it, just learn to like it. You will if you stop over thinking like you're doing at the moment. Don't worry about it. Of all the things you have to worry about, this should be on the bottom of the list. Let me deal with this one. You've got your own problems. Stop worrying about everything. Leave some of the worrying to the professionals."

"Oh yes, you are quite the professional brooder, aren't you?" I said, rolling my eyes.

"Do you see it bothering me right now?" asked Angel.

I raised an eyebrow.

"No," he said. "Because I'm a professional and you should_ never_ mix work with home."

He kissed me and while I was lost in the moment, he pointed the sword I had been in the process of sharpening at my chest.

"Now, I've got the pleasure of working you so hard that you won't ever want to fight another gang again."


	34. Hostages

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Liiiittle coarse language in this one, but hardly enough to warrant much uproar. Hope you like this one. I like this one. It's not particualrly different from my usual, in fact, I don't really know why I like it so much, I just do. Anyway, enjoy and review :) Don't forget quotes. I will use them. Trust me. I have been given quotes, some of which I haven't used yet simply because I can't tie them into an episode or can't be stuffed thinking enough to base an episode around one yet, but I will. Promise :)**

* * *

_**"The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That's the deal." - C.S. Lewis (courtesy of Nanna. Thank you greatly)**_

* * *

"I'm _fine_ Angel!" I said firmly.

In truth, I really wasn't. I had just found out there was a reason people didn't like getting shot. It's because it hurts like all hell. My shoulder was burning in pain and I was losing a fair amount of blood besides.

"Just let me take a look at it Mirany," said Angel.

"No, because you don't need to, because it's fine."

It was really, really hurting now. Like, worse than before, if that was even possible.

"I just need to...go to bed and...get a good night's sleep," I mumbled, swooning slightly.

Angel tutted, holding me up and dragging me over to the couch, away from my bedroom door.

"Let me see," he demanded, pushing me down into the pillows and glaring at me with that look he got when he had a purpose and no one was going to get in his way.

"Angel-"

"No Mirany. Let me see."

I grumbled to myself, and I'm pretty sure he heard the 'stupid, pushy vampire' part, because he seemed determined not to laugh all of a sudden. I really didn't want him to look at the wound. It had nothing to do with the fact that I'd have to take my shirt off for him to see. I couldn't care less about that. It wasn't as if it would be the first time. Don't give me that look. He's rescused me when I've been tortured or whatever and they happened to have taken my shirt off. They always do for some reason. God, you've got a dirty mind.

No. I wasn't worried about having to remove clothing. I just didn't want him looking. Simple as that. I don't know why. I just didn't want him to. Not that I had much of a choice. Like I said, he had that look. He was going to make me show him one way or another. It was probably better to do it voluntarily. And besides, I was getting kinda lightheaded.

"Fine," I muttered, unbuttoning my shirt and sliding it off my shoulder gingerly, wincing with pain. "Happy now?"

Angel hissed slightly at the wound and immediately pulled off his own shirt, pressing it against the entry wound. I knew there had to be an upside to getting shot. He had a very nice chest. Although he could have bene a little gentler in his application of his shirt to my shoulder.

"Ow!" I said indignantly. "Easy there. It's not going anywhere."

"Hold this there," said Angel, placing my hand on the cloth. "I'll be right back."

Instead of going to the cupboard where I kept all my bandages and other bits and pieces for numbing the pain; speaking of, a beer would go down real well right about now; Angel went into my room. He came out a few moments later with tweezers. He took out some alcohol swabs from the cupboard and a bandage, then sat down on the coffee table in front of me.

"What are they for?" I asked cautiously, staring at the tweezers. I already knew the answer before he opened his mouth.

"Gotta get it out Mirany. You can't just leave a bullet in you," he said. "Don't worry. It's not deep. I can see it just fine. Shouldn't be hard. Won't hurt much...probably."

"Uh, no!" I said pointedly. "You are _not_ sticking those in me."

Angel ignored me, taking the shirt out of my hand.

"Brace yourself," he warned.

"Angel. No. Don't even think about it. It's fine. It doesn't need to be- Ah! God!"

I bit into my fist to stop myself from biting his arm.

"I did warn you," said Angel, holding my shoulder still as he pulled the ball of metal from it. "There. It wasn't that bad."

"Speak for your-fucking-self!" I snapped as he began to wrap my shoulder up in a bandage.

"Mirany, you've been in worse pain."

I sighed.

"Very true," I muttered. "How is it that I always end up with my shirt off when I'm in great pain?"

"You're de-clothable," said Angel casually.

I wiggled my eyebrows at him.

"Am I?" I asked, poking my tongue between my teeth.

"I meant...you know what I meant."

I smirked and watched as he wrapped the material around me carefully.

"Have you ever been shot?" I asked curiously. He seemed to know what he was doing.

"I've bene shot, hanged, buried, drowned, had my throat slit...yeah, I think that's it," he said, counting off on his fingers. "Actually, I think they were trying to take my head off, but the knife wasn't sharp enough. Oh, and stabbed."

"Good job," I commented.

"Yes well, I wouldn't recommend any of the above," he muttered.

"I'll take that under advisement," I said, getting to my feet and swaying dangerously as my head swam.

"Easy," Angel warned, holding my arm and supporting me into my room. "You shouldn't move around too quickly."

"Okay," I said absentmindedly, pulling him onto the bed with me and snuggling into his chest. "G'night."

"Good night," Angel whispered.

Maybe three seconds later I was asleep.

...

"GOD DAMN IT!" I yelled, having half a mind to throw the jar across the room, but Angel would have caught it before it could smash.

My shoulder was still killing me, so I figured if I didn't use my left arm, I would avoid any extra pain. But with my left arm out of action, I was suddenly hampered in many of my usual activities. I didn't realise just how much I used my left arm.

"Mirany, calm down," said Angel, taking the jar and opening it for me. "It's only been an hour since you woke up."

I glared at him as I took up a spoon and began shovelling honey into my mouth. Angel raised an eyebrow.

"I swear, the way you eat- "

"I work my ass off every day," I snapped between mouthfuls. "I exercise like, non-stop. I'm allowed to eat whatever the hell I want."

"You're absolutely right. You do exercise a lot," said Angel, taking away the jar and resealing it tightly.

I growled and stalked over to the fridge, pulling out a large, raw steak and chewing on that instead.

"You obviously don't mind the wolf diet," Angel commented.

"I'm hungry!" I said indignantly. "What would you recommend? A carrot? I'm a wolf not a bloody rabbit."

"Right now I personally think you're a pig," he said.

I shook my head, deflecting the insult easily.

"Pigs don't eat steak," I said simply.

"Oh of course," said Angel sarcastically, eyeing the steak with a strange look on his face.

"What?" I asked. "What's wrong with me eating steak?"

"Nothing," said Angel. "Just never seen anyone eat it raw."

"That's because no one else can eat it and keep it down," I said. It wasn't the best thing to boast about, but it was better than nothing. It'd probably go down better with teenage boys.

Angel grimaced. I couldn't help but laugh.

"You drink blood for nutrition and you're pulling a face at _my_ diet? Something' wrong here."

Angel smirked at me.

"We both know it's you," he said.

"Oh, such a lovely thing to say to your girlfriend," I said sarcastically.

"I know," he said simply.

I wanted to throw somethign at him, but I didn't have anything but my steak to throw.

"Mirany, I need to- Oh gross," said Lilah, looking away from me. "You couldn't cook it just a little bit?"

"What do you want Lilah?" I asked, swallowing the rest of the steak and going to lean against the wall then thinking better of it.

"I need to talk to you," she said. "What happened to your shoulder?"

"Got shot," I said simply. "Talk."

"Alone," she said pointedly.

Angel went to get to his feet.

"Don't bother Angel. She can either talk to _us,_ or not at all," I said calmly.

"Well, your loss," said Lilah, turning to leave.

"No!" I said quickly, grabbing her arm and dragging her into my room. "What do you need?"

"A favour," said Lilah. "I need you to stay at Wolfram and Hart for a few days."

"Why?" I asked suspiciously.

"I may have put you on the mob's hit list," said Lilah carefully. "I was just going to tell you about it, but seeing as you can't defend yourself quite so well in your condition, I think you should stay where you're definitely safe."

"Oh yes, staying in Wolfram and Hart is _definitely_ safe for me," I said sarcastically. "Look, I'll be good in a day. I can handle myself for _one_ day."

"Mirany, all I need is three days," said Lilah. "Just to smooth it all over."

I scowled.

"Fine," I snapped. "But you have to tell me why I'm on the most wanted list when we get there."

...

"Ow!"

The man ignored me as he drew my blood.

"You said nothign about tests," I snapped at Lilah, glaring at the scientist.

"Kill two birds with one stone," said Lilah casually, shrugging. "This way I don't have to do it sneakily. It's such a time waster."

"How many times have you tested me?" I asked indignantly. "And why don't I remember ever agreeing to it?"

"Because you didn't," said Lilah simply. "About three years in a row I think now."

"Of course," I muttered. "Don't let's just ask Mirany, let's just take her blood and samples of whatever else without her knowing. Hey, ow!"

I batted the skinny scientist away from me and he fell backwards a few metres.

_That'll teach him._

Lilah scowled at me.

"Don't hrut the scientist," she snapped, seizing my arm before I could get up and start beating him up some more.

"He hurt me first," I said, somewhat lamely.

"He's supposed to."

I glared at her, pointing threateningly at the scientist to stop him from slicing into me again.

"If you don't do let him do it, I'll have to. He doesn't know you well enough to want to cause you serious pain yet," said Lilah pointedly.

I considered her for a moment then grudgingly lowered my arm. She had a point.

"So tell me how you angered the mob," I said.

"Well, we had a bit of a chat, I said I couldn't help him, your name my have slipped out and viola! You've got a reward on your head."

"Great," I said. "So, when exactly do you plan on smoothing things out?"

Lilah shrugged.

"Sometime in the next three days," she said. "I try not to schedule myself too much. I just get off track."

I scowled at her.

"I am sooo going to kill you."

"I dare you to try."

...

"IT WASN'T MY FAULT HE ATTACKED ME!" I roared at the demon. The whole lobby was completely silent except for me and him, watching in horror as we stood, ten feet apart, roaring at each other. The head to be a good two hundred people wondering who would win the fight to the death that appeared to be coming up.

"YOU PROVOKED HIM!"

"HOW? BY EXISTING?"

"PRETTY DAMN CLOSE!"

"What's going on?" Lilah asked, coming up behind me. I jumped slightly. I was sure she had been in her office with a very seirous case just moments ago. Guess someone had told her that something was going down.

The demon in front of me loked immediately fearful. What? I wasn't scary enough for him? God, I needed to come by more often. Although, in truth, I had reaped a fair amount of damage in one day. I'd already knocked out a few 'old friends' and played many mind tricks with Lindsay, who was far too easy to pick on.

"Slayer and I were just...having a chat," said the demon through long, pointed teeth, clenching his fists in anger as he glared at me.

"Didn't sound like that to me," Lilah commented. "Mirany, who did you kill this time?"

"This git's brother attacked me a couple of days ago. I gave him what he deserved. A long and painful death," I said, turning away from the demon.

I heard the snarl and reacted before he had time to recoup. I dodged out of his way as he dived at me, causing him to crash into the marble floor, then jump back to his feet, still snarling.

"Can I borrow this?" I asked Lilah, and without waiting for a reply, I pulled her pointlessly 'fashionable' scarf from her neck and caught the demon around his as he made another move at me. I wrapped it around his throat and yanked it tight, holding it in place before he went limp.

"Thank you," I said, handing Lilah back her scarf. She looked furious.

"Mirany, you just killed a client in the middle of the lobby! What the hell am I going to tell the Senior Partners when they find out?"

"That I didn't kill him because he's not dead," I said. "He doesn't breathe through his mouth. He breathes...uh, let's not go there...He's fine. He shut down his systems. He's in...hibernation. He'll wake up agian eventually."

My shoulder was hurting after that, but it was bearable. Lilah looked like she was about to say something else, but I took her moment of silence to escape to the lifts, leaving a slowly recovering lobby in my wake. The people in the lifts all shifted to the very edges, looking at me cautiously. Oh how much I would have loved to scare them a little more, but Angel had other ideas.

_You shouldn't have done that. You've only made him madder. You don't need any more enemies than you've already got._

_I'm about to get skinned alive by Lilah. The very least _you_ could do was congratulate me on my quick thinking. That and stop watching me through my _own eyes.

_I have to watch you Mirany, otherwise you do stupid things._

_Like that?_ I asked, leaving the lift and shutting myself in Lilah's office. The people still in the lift looked far too relieved. _I notice you didn't stop me._

_Only because he deserved it, he was an idiot. But not everyone you beat up the way you do deserves it._

_Ugh. Can we have the lecture later?_

_Fine, but don't think you've just gotten out of it. I will remember._

_Great._

I sat in Lilah's office, waiting for her to come in and scream bloody murder at me. It was completely silent for about two minutes, no noise in or out of my head, then the alarm sounded. I thought there must have been a vampire inside or something, but when it kept blaring I got to my feet cautiously, pulling a knife from Lilah's display and shoving it in my belt, then adding a sword and axe to my waistline as well. I was halfway through deciding whether to take a couple of throwing stars when the power shut off and I was thrown into darkness. I made my way carefully to the door and vetured out into the hallway, which, moments ago, had been full of busy people, but was now completely empty.

_Creepy, _Angel commented.

"I'll say."

_Mirany, I've got a bad feeling about this._

"Yeah well, I don't really care."

The alarm was still going, even though the power was out, but as I took to the stairs, straining my eyes to see where I was going, it shut off mid ring, but the power didn't come back on. I assumed the worse, deciding that whatever had caused the alarm to start had also caused it to stop. Assuming the worst might not be what most people recommend, but when you're in a business where all your actions are basically life or death deciding, you tend to think negatively.

_Seriously Mirany, I didn't like this. Go back._

"I don't like it either, which is why I'm investigating."

_I could stop you._

"Then do it."

Angel was silent and I continued down the stairs, peering through doors as I got to landings, but the place was completely deserted. The stairs finally ended at the lobby, which was just as deserted as everywhere else.

"What's happened to them all? There were heaps of them."

_Three possibilities. They're hiding...very well, they've run off, or they've been kidnapped. Or killed. Four possibilities._

"Way to lighten the mood."

I tried all of the doors leading outside. Every single one of them was locked tight.

"Locked. I don't think they would have been able to run away. Jeez, I was only gone for a minute or so."

_A lot can happen in a couple of minutes Mirany. You of all people should know that. I became a vampire, you became the Slayer, 9/11...your parents were killed in-_

"Okay, I get it," I said tursely. "A lot can happen in a short amount of time."

I was becoming increasingly aware of how bad this was looking. I was completely alone in an evil law firm, and could well be walking right into a very big, bad trap.

_Yes, that's what I was thinking. If somoene with a serious grudge against you wanted to trap you, a building like Wolfram and Hart would be perfect. More than enough places to wait and ambush you, and it wouldn't be hard to get in unnoticed, even if they were a demon. Vampires are a possibility as well but they have the vampire detectors so it's kinda hard._

"You're really not helping."

_Sorry. Do you need me there?_

"No point." I smashed everything I could think of agaisn tthe glass doors, including my good shoulder, which wasn't quite so good after that. "You wouldn't be able to get in if you tried."

_It's that no one _is _trying. There's always people going in and out._

"Some sort of spell?" I asked, poking around behind the reception desk to see if I could find any clues. "Warding spell or something?"

_Well, either that or someone's seriously messing with your head, and for once it's not me. It'd have to be a pretty powerful spell though. Even the sun's not getting in._

I made my way over to the stairs leading further down, staring around me so carefully for anything that could jump out of me that I could see every single speck of dust floating in the air.

_Be careful Mirany._

"When am I ever careful?" I asked.

_Just this once try. For me. Please._

"No chance buster. Careful isn't in my dictionary."

_You should invest in a new dictionary then. At least stop talking. You're giving away your position to a whole heap of people that could be around._

_Fine._

What is it about going underground that creeps people out? As I slowly took to the stairs, waiting on edge for someone to jump out at me, I shivered involuntarily. The whole underground thing was...well, creepy.

"Mirany!"

I jumped a mile, drawing my sword and pointing it right at Lindsay's throat.

"Jesus Christ Lindsay, you scared the hell out of me!" I hissed, sliding the sword back into my belt. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack? What do you think you're doing, sneaking up on people like that?"

"Sorry," Lindsay whispered. "I saw you in the lobby, followed you down. Were you talking to yourself?"

I glared at him, not that he could see it.

"It helps me think," I said eventually. "Do you have any idea what's happened?"

"That alarm, it's a code mauve," said Lindsay.

"Code mauve?" I asked, sure that he had lost it.

"Code red doesn't actually stand for an absolute emergency. Code mauve does," Lindsay explained. "It's an...inter-dimensional thing. Doesn't matter. The alarm tells us to hide. The main place people hide is down here. There are a couple of people who just hide under their desks but...isn't very effective if you need to get away. There are heaps of tunnels down here, people are able to run if they have to. I got side tracked as I was coming down, didn't come down 'til the alarm stopped. I thought whatever had happened must be over, but...obviously not."

"Well, welcome to the rescue team," I muttered, handing him the axe. "Stay behind me. First sign of something wrong, tell me."

"Got it," said Lindsay.

"And if you dare to swing that at me, I will disembowl you," I said seriously.

I heard Lindsay swallow as I started along the hallway in front of us.

_Do you really think you can trust him?_

_You got a better idea?_

_You could kill him._

_If he so much as coughs without my permission, I probably will. Now shut up, I'm concentrating._

_Yes ma'am._

"What do you think's happened?" asked Lindsay in my ear. I jumped again.

"I swear, if you scare me again I'm going to have to kill you," I said. "And I don't know. But I'm willing to bet that no one's been able to leave through those escape tunnels you were talking about."

"Why?" asked Lindsay.

"Because I can hear them."

I could hear voices, men's voices, talking authoritively not far away.

_The leaders probably. Making sure that no one else makes a sound._

"What are we going to do?" asked Lindsay.

"You're going to stay here," I said firmly, gripping the sword again. "If I give a shout, come."

Lindsay grumbled but apparently the prospect of being disembowled wasn't one he was looking forward to and he grudgingly leant against the wall.

"Watch my back," I told him, moving to the end of the corridor and pushing the door open a crack.

I couldn't believe the entire vacinity of Wolfram and Hart fit down here, plus the bastards that were patrolling around the crowd. The people who clearly weren't a part of Wolfram and Hart looked scared, the Wolfram and Hart employees looked fairly untroubled. No doubt they'd been trained for something like this. Everyone was silent though, which was probably a smart idea. I seriously doubted these guys were keeping control just by their looks. I could see Lilah right out the front of the crowd, glaring at a tall man as he spoke directly to her.

"...And when she comes we'll grab her and you can go," he was saying. "I may not be a nice man, but I'm a fair man."

"Probably not true, but I'm willing to believe it for the sake of argument," I said, leaning against the door fram as I pushed it wide open. My hand shifted from my sword to my knife. It was easier to throw.

The man turned. He wasn't a man after all.

_Guess they got past those vampire detectors you were talking about._

_Never said it wasn't impossible._

The vampire dragged Lilah forwards and I pulled the knife out of my belt.

"Come any closer and you'll lose your head," I snarled.

"Now, you wouldn't do that, would you? After all, you might hit your sister as well," said the vampire. He looked familiar, but I was too far away to really notice details in the dark. "Didn't you parents ever tell you not ot play with knives? Guess that was coming up. Too bad they died before they could."

Something clicked inside my head and I snarled in spite of myself. I could feel the wolf bubbling right beneath the surface, itching to take over me the moment I really lost my temper.

"You...you..." I started.

"Me," said the vampire. "I don't think we were ever properly introduced. I'm Kalem, and this..." He waved at the rest of the vampires around the room. "...is my crew. We've gotten a bit larger since we last met though."

"Mirany, kill him," said Lilah. "Just do it. Don't worry about me."

I could take the shot easily without hitting her, but he could also pull her in front of him. What did this bastard want from me now?

_Mirany, keep your head. There's no point in taking revenge if they take innocent people with them._

"Put down the knife Slayer," said Kalem. "And the sword."

"Mirany, do it already," Lilah snapped.

"If you surrender we'll let the rest of them go," said Kalem.

_You lying mother f-_

_Mirany for god's sake, don't you listen to me at all?_

_Get a message to Lindsay. Tell him that even if the rest of them are leaving that he needs to stay where he is._

_How am I suppsoed to get a message to him?_

_I've memorised his number Angel!_

_Right. Mirany, don't give yourself to them._

_I'm a lot stronger now than I was back then._

I ignored him, drawing my sword.

"Alright," I said, holding the sword and knife up before placing them on the ground and kicking them away. Kalem looked very, very pleased with himself.

_Mirany. You had better come out of this._

_Did you get a message to Lindsay._

"Let them go!" he ordered the rest of the vampires as he let go of Lilah and grabbed my wrists, twisting them up painfully behind my back. At least he was honest about _one_ thing.

No one wasted any time in leaving the room as fast as they possibly could, well, no one except Lilah, who looked like was going to stay, but she was shoved out of the room by one of the vampires, who closed the door behind her and turned to face me and Kalem. I was trying to jerk out of his grip, but it wasn't going too well.

"Uh uh," he said, pulling my arms further up my back. "No struggling."

My shoulder was killing me again.

"My, how you've grown," said Kalem. The rest of the vampires gaffawed stupidly. There were eight or so of them, including Kalem. "You used to be so small."

I growled. I was seriously considering changing and just letting them have it.

_Mirany, don't even think about it._

_Hmm, what's worse? Being eaten by vampires, or being a wolf, which I what I am, and then having to deal with changing back? I'm thinking plan B's the one to go with._

"She smells different," said one, sniffing me slightly and wrinkling his nose. "Ugh. She's a bloody dog. And she's bonded. No way am I tasting her."

Kalem snarled at him.

"We didn't go through all this just to eat her idiot!" he snapped. "But I would hate to spoil the surprise for her."

He stroked my cheek lightly and I bit at his fingers. He chuckled as he pulled away.

"Feisty. Good. We like feisty."

"LINDSAY! NOW WOULD BE A REALLY, REALLY GOOD TIME TO STEP IN!" I yelled.

"Who the hell is Lindsay?" Kalem chuckled.

"That would be me," said Lindsay from the doorway.

Kalem's momentary surprise was all I needed to get free. Lindsay threw the axe to me and I spun around to chop the vampire into little bits, but he wasn't there. Suddenly I was being held by the throat, so was Lindsay.

"Obviously now is too late to take you," said Kalem, looking annoyed as he stood in front of me. "We've wasted too much time here. But we'll be back Slayer. Count on it."

He brushed my cheek again, and then they were gone. Lindsay stared at me.

"Who the hell was that?"

...

"I should have killed him," I muttered. "I shouldn't have worried about Lilah."

Angel wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Worryign about Lilah wasn't a bad thing to do Mirany. And anyway, from the sounds of it, you'll get another chance," he said.

"Yeah, but when?" I asked. "I remember him saying the same thing when they killed my parents. That was two years ago. I can't wait another two years."

"Mirany, no one got killed this time. You should be thankful for that," said Angel.

"I guess," I muttered.

"They act quickly, don't they?" asked Angel.

"What's that supposed to mean?

"Well, maybe they're trained," he said. "Maybe they work for someone else."

"What, like assassins? Who would order for my parent's death?"

"Don't know," said Angel. "But maybe we can keep an ear out for things like it. We might be able to hunt them down."

I swallowed.

"What?" asked Angel. "You don't want to find them?"

"Of course I want to find them," I said. "But what if I find out that the reason they were hired or whatever to kill my parents was because they were bad people or something? I don't wanna know that. I've been hunting them for two years. To find out why. Why my parents? Why then? To finally have something to go on is amazing but...I'm not sure I want to hear their side of the story any more."

"Mirany, your parents weren't bad people," said Angel. "They were exceptional people."

I wasn't convinced.

"Mirany, you're going to want to play over every single possibility in the next few days. Don't out stock into any of it," he said. "You'll find out when you find out. Until then, don't think about it too much. What would be a more productive thing to think about is why they didn't just want to kill you."

"Who knows?" I groaned. "I'm so sick of vampires playing around with their food."

Angel laughed.

"They call vampires evil for a reason Mirany," he said. "Well, it's something worth thinking about anyway."

"Can we stop thinking for a little while?" I asked resting my forehead on his chest as fatigue began to kick in. "I'm tired of thinking."

"I think you're just plain tired," said Angel.

"That too," I muttered into his shirt.

Angel lifted my chin up and kissed me softly.

"Don't stress about your parents," he said. "They were good people Mirany, and only someone evil would have taken out a contract on them. That I promise you."


	35. Relations

**_"It's amazing that the amount of news that happens in the world every day always just exactly fits the newspaper." - Jerry Seinfeld_**

* * *

"What am I doing here?" asked Mirany, tossing the magazine down and glaring at Cordelia. "What is the point of this?"

"We're trying to make you a girl," said Cordelia simply.

"You know what. I want to be a guy," said Mirany. "In guy magazines, they don't put stupid advice in them because guys think they know everything they need to know. Girls seem to think they don't know a thing, so they want to know every stupid piece of information they possibly can. Men just think in simple terms. All they think is 'I know what I'm doing, show me something naked.'"

I burst out laughing.

"Thank you Mirany for summing me up in ten words," I chuckled.

"Nine actually, but sure, no probs," said Mirany.

Cordelia was scowling.

"It's not pointless information," she said firmly. "Angel tell her."

"It's pointless information," I confirmed.

"There are fifty-thousand better things I could be doing at the moment," Mirany muttered, picking up the newspaper. "I could be training or fighting vampires or even, ugh, doing taxes. Why am I...here?"

I looked up at her as her tone of voice completely changed. She was staring at the paper in horror.

"Oh my god. It's them."

She looked up.

"Didn't anyone even bother to look at this this morning?" she asked.

"Of course I did, there was nothing interesting. No demonic sounding deaths today. Only human ones," said Cordelia.

Mirany looked like she was going to strangle her. I ran a hand through her hair as I looked over her shoulder.

"Mirany, somebody got kidnapped. It's just another human thing. I'm not getting involved," I said.

"Angel, I know these people. They're Watchers," she said. "They have a son. He's a telepath. It's the same sort of thing as mum and dad."

I took a closer look at the article. The more I read, the more closely linked it seemed to Mirany's own case. The paper didn't say it, but if Mirany was right, then they were both Watchers, and they had a son with special abilities. The kidnappers had just appeared at the door as friends of the family, had been let in, then had left without a trace except for the boy, who was now orphaned, with no other living relatives.

"This is too close for comfort," I muttered. "Do you know where he lives?"

Mirany nodded.

"What are they doing?" she asked. "Why? Why us? Why _not_ us? Why our parents?"

"We're going to find out," I said softly, kissing her cheek and pulling her to her feet. "Trust me."

Mirany didn't look quite as sure as I sounded.

...

"Brydan?"

Mirany banged on the door.

"Brydan, open up. Please. It's Mirany! Brydan, come on."

"Mirany, he probably doesn't want to talk," I said reasonably. "He's probably been talking to press all day and just wants to be left alone."

"He wouldn't just ignore me," said Mirany. "Brydan!"

She banged on the door again and it finally opened. The boy was the same age as her, possibly slightly younger, maybe sixteen or seventeen. He had sandy blonde hair and was just shorter than Mirany. Bottle green eyes shone through the fringe that fell down around his face, but sadness could still be seen in them.

"Mirany, I'm really not in the mood..." he started, but Mirany completely ignored him, walking in.

"Invite the vampire inside, be a good boy," she said carelessly.

Brydan glared at me, not saying a word.

"He's a good vampire Bry," said Mirany. "Trust me."

"I know he is," said Brydan. "Still doesn't mean I have to like him."

"He sounds just like you," I said to Mirany.

"Brydan, invite him in," said Mirany, sounding bored.

Brydan muttered a very resentful 'come in' and I followed them into the living room.

"Mirany, why are you here?" Brydan snapped.

"Hey, there's no need to get snarly with me. We're both in the same boat."

"No we're not! Don't say that! _My_ parents aren't dead!" Brydan snapped. "I know it!"

I swallowed. A volatile telepath was no better than a volatile Mirany.

"Brydan, we want to help find them," I said soothingly. "Can you tell us anything about the people that took your parents?"

"If they even were people," said Mirany.

"They were vampires, yeah," said Brydan, surveying me with caution and deep rage, obviously trying to decide whether I was friend or foe. "They tricked me into inviting them inside."

"Why didn't you do your mind reading thing to see who they were?" asked Mirany. "Or to stop them?"

"I don't mind read every single person I meet! I don't like being a telepath Mirany!"

I could tell that something was obviously coming to a head between them so I took over.

"You were probably fairly shocked, but anything you can tell us would be helpful," I said.

Brydan stared at his feet.

"The main one, the vampire that was running the thing, he told me to tell the Slayer that they're coming back," he said, not meeting Mirany's eyes.

"What?" Mirany snapped. "Why didn't you tell me straight away? You know I'm the Slayer Brydan! Why would you keep that from me? We could have found your parents already!"

_Mirany! Shut up! Wait outside if you're going to go off your head._

"There's no point in doing the mind thing. I can hear you. You project to me as well when you project to her. And don't worry. She goes off her head regularly at me. I'd be more upset if she wasn't," said Brydan. "That would mean something very bad was going down."

"Something very bad _is_ going down," Mirany muttered.

"Sorry, I forgot you're a telepath," I said. He was unnervingly skilled. "Anything else?"

Brydan nodded and got to his feet.

"Wait here," he muttered and left.

"Just keep your mouth shut, alright?" I told Mirany. "When you said you knew him I didn't think it's be in a mutual dislike."

"Brydan and I have our problems, yes, but we don't dislike each other. He's a really good friend," said Mirany.

"Then prove it. Try to make an effort to be nice," I said.

Brydan came back.

"There was a woman with them," he said. "She was human. I was in shock, I didn't even think of reading her mind."

He handed me a sheet of a paper with an exception portrait of the woman in question. Mirany and I both stared at it then up at each other.

"I knew we couldn't trust her," I muttered. "Yet another reason why I'm glad I didn't let her help us."

"This doesn't make any sense. Why would she rescue me if she had it in for me?" Mirany asked.

"Gain your trust," said Brydan.

We both looked up at him.

"That's what I would do," said Brydan. "If I wanted to get close to someone for evil purposes, I could gain their trust then backstab them."

"Which is just one of the reasons why we don't hang out," said Mirany.

"He's right," I said. "Easiest ploy to pull really, particularly with you."

"What?" Mirany growled.

"Once you trust, you trust completely," I explained. "It wouldn't be hard to get away with things that could otherwise be explained as strange and not at all good."

"But, I don't trust easily," said Mirany.

"She saved your life," I pointed out. "You trust me and all I did was give you emotions."

Mirany grunted.

"Guess we better pay a visit to dear old Kay," she muttered.

"Brydan, I want you to stay at Mirany's for a few days. See if we can't sort this out," I said.

"No!" the both of them said indignantly.

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Brydan snapped. "Her place is no safer than mine when it comes to them. They've been invitied inside as well."

"True, but there are a lot more people at Mirany's than there are here," I said. "And a whole lot more places to hide if it comes down to it. Please. I want your _whole_ family to come out of this unscathed."

...

"Oh dear," I said unenthusiastically as we drove up in front of Kay's house. "Something's gone wrong here."

The door had come off it's hinges, resting at an odd angle in the doorway, and a few of the windows had been smashed.

"Good," Mirany snapped. "Let's go and get on with this then."

"Wait," I said. "Let's check it out. There may actually be something of importance in there."

"Importance," Mirany scoffed as I covered myself from the sun. "Nothing in that place could be of any importance to me."

I rolled my eyes and pulled her out of the car, stepping carefully around the door and into the dark house.

"Man, this place doesn't look like it's been lived in for years," Mirany muttered, running a finger along a windowsill and showing me the large dust pile it had collected.

"That's not possible," I said. "You were here. I remember coming here."

"Sure you didn't take a wrong turn?"

"Yes," I said firmly. "It was definitely here."

"Well either we're both losing our minds, or we've been tricked," said Mirany.

"If that doesn't tell you something about her guilt, I dunno what will," I muttered.

"How about this?"

Mirany had walked into the next room and I followed her. My mouth fell open slightly. The room was covered in pictures of people. Completely covered. Walls, ceiling, windows, door. It was a stalker's dream room, except that the pictures were of different people, of different ages, races, appearances.

"What's the betting that they're all Watchers?" I asked, staring around.

Mirany pulled a couple of photos off the wall.

"These are Brydan's parents," she said.

"They look farily recent compared to some of these," I commented, looking at the crisp, bright photos then at a group of seriously faded ones.

"This has bene going on for years," said Mirany. "But why?"

I was beginning to see a pattern. The walls were covered with Watchers, but the ceiling was covered with much younger people, some teenagers, some small children.

"Somehow I'm thinking that you and Brydan aren't the only ones with special abilities born into Watcher families," I muttered.

Mirany was silent and I drew my eyes away from the pictures on the ceiling to see what she was looking at. From what I could tell by the appearance of all the photos, she was looking at some of the very first ones.

"My parents," she whispered. "All of these people...they were targetted."

"I would assume that most of them were killed," I said. "Brydan's were probably only kidnapped so that he would get a message to you."

Mirany was seething.

"I'm going to kill her," she said fervently. "I'm going to rip her apart!"

I took her around the waist and tried to shift her towards the door, but she wouldn't budge.

"Mirany, let's go," I said. "Come on. We have everything we need."

Her eyes were still fixed on the photos of her parents. She was fumbling in her pockets.

"Mirany, we should go," I said firmly.

Mirany ignored me and pulled a lighter from her pocket, igniting it and holding it up to the corner of the paper.

"This will stop," she told the flames as they took to the paper immediately. "We're going to make this stop."

I'd never seen her more determined before. I still couldn't get her to shift. The flames began to eat into the rest of the room.

"Mirany!"

She seemed to jerk back to her senses and let me pull her out of the burning room and back to the car. There was silence most of the way back to her house before she finally spoke.

"Why would anybody do that?" she asked quietly. "It's not like you can build an army when they're all against you. Why?"

"I don't know," I said. "Maybe in her own wacked out mind Kay thinks that she's actually doing good. Makin gyou stronger or something. Maybe she's just psycho."

Mirany paused.

"Why would someone hire assassins then come along to watch them kidnap someone?" she asked.

I raised an eyebrow. I hadn't actually thought that it might have been weird that Kay had come along to watch.

"I...that's a very good question," I said.

"What if she didn't have a choice?" asked Mirany. "What if she's being set up by someone else? Someone with way more brains than we originally thought?"

She seemed to be coming to some sort of conclusion.

"Someone who's been trained to think about things like this. Someone who might get others to teach their children to think differently so that when they attacked the parents, the children wouldn't think outside the square."

"Someone like a Watcher?" I asked, pulling up outside the mansion and turning to look at her.

Mirany stared at me.

"A Watcher with connections like that...I only know of two," she said shakily.

"Your parents," I agreed.

"If they faked their own death, they could never be caught, particularly if the people who are most likely to catch them saw it happen," said Mirany.

I could see exactly where she was coming from, and I had to agree that it was a pretty solid lead. The Hunter's certainly had the skill to fake their own death. But it did mean that Mirany would ahve to change her whole mind set. It meant _I_ would have to change _my_ whole mind set. Mirany's parents had been good people. Why would they be killing off or kidnapping Watchers? It made no sense.

But motive was the last thing to worry about right now. Finding Mirany's parents, if they were still alive, would probably provide us with a motive anyway. Mirany seemed to realise what this meant.

"Oh god," she muttered.

I took her hands in mine.

"Mirany, we can forget this conversation," I said. "There are other lines we can pursue."

Mirany shook her head.

"No," she whispered. "No, we...we have to do this."

She didn't look happy about it, I wasn't too crash hot about it either, but we both knew it was the right thing to do.

"Alright then," I said. "Let's put that super computer of yours to good use."

...

"What the hell do you mean, they could still be alive?" Lilah snapped.

"I mean just that Lilah," said Mirany. "It's the only explanation that makes sense."

_"This is just...this is ridiculous,"_ said Wesley.

"Wesley, think about it," I said. "It does make sense, and it's certainly not impossible for them to pull it off."

Lilah was scowling.

"What do you want me to do?" she asked.

"I need to link computers," said Mirany. "I want as much power as possible."

_"And you want my help doing...?"_ asked Wesley.

"I need you to call every single Watcher you know," I said. "Anything that you can find out is good."

_"We'll get right on it,"_ said Wesley.

"Send Connor over," said Mirany suddenly.

"What?" I asked.

I had gotten the vibe that Mirany was just as keen to avoid Connor as Connor was to avoid her.

"I need him," she said. "He knows how to work technology much better than you do."

She gestured at all the computers around.

"Fair point," I muttered, hanging up on Wesley.

Lilah sighed.

"If we link interfaces, I'd be jeopardising my entire career," she said.

"Lilah! This our parents!" said Mirany indignantly.

"Fine," said Lilah. "I'll connect with you but I won't do anything else on this computer. That way they can come to the conclusion that you just hacked in."

"You better be coming around here then," said Mirany.

"Do I really have a choice?" asked Lilah pointedly, turning off the camera and sending the huge screen black.

"Right," Mirany muttered, pulling the gloves she used to control the computer on. "Mark and Tanya Hunter. Where are you hiding?"

She was shaking slightly as she pointed at two different computer screens, flicking her fingers and sending the images to the huge screen, then she paused, staring at one of the now blank screens. I hugged her close around the waist.

"This is hard, I know, but you can do this," I said. "I know you can Mirany. Breathe."

"They've been dead to me for three years," she said. "What if they are still alive? What does that say about how much they actually loved me?"

"Nothing Mirany," I said. "If anything, it says that they were trying to protect you. From the truth, from people out for revenge...don't think that they didn't love you because it's not true. They loved you more than the world. It's a pre-requisite of being a parent."

_Wow, I sound really old._

Mirany squared her shoulders.

"Right," she muttered, shaking herself slightly and turning to the computer determinately. "Then let's get started."

I moved away as she began to do her technological thingo. I had absolutely no idea how anything in this room worked, but she was mastering everything better than I think anyone could ever dream of. Connor arrived half an hour after she started.

"What does she want?" he asked quietly.

"I have no idea. I thought she wanted you so that you could man a computer but she's doing a pretty good job all by herself," I muttered.

"Connor, you're here to help me if something goes wrong," said Mirany, not looking away from the screen.

Her hands were flying around in the air so fast they were just big, blurry lines whooshing around the place. She'd throw her hands aorund for a while, then she'd start typing even faster. Connor and I just watched in silence as she did this. Something in the back of my mind was telling me that it was not good that this was taking so long. She could usually find any information within seconds.

"Connor! Computer on my right! Someone's trying to attack me!" said Mirany suddenly.

"Where?" I asked, staring around.

Connor rolled his eyes as he began to type, not quite as fast as Mirany, but certainly fast enough to make me feel far too overwhelmed.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" Mirany yelled, dashing from computer to computer.

"Mirany, this isn't working," said Connor warningly.

The whole room fell silent as the computers all powered down. Mirany stared around.

"I just got french fried," she said. "They completely took me out."

She snatched up the phone, scrolling through contacts before puttin gon the headset.

"Lilah. Tell me you have a connection still."

Mirany's face gave away the answer.

"Great. Just bloody brilliant!" Mirany snapped, hanging up and kicking the wall angrily. "Someone really doesn't want me to find out anything about them."

"Which basically screams 'we're still alive'," I said.

"Mirany!"

Brydan dashed in, panting.

"Mirany, they're here. They're after you," he gasped.

Mirany stared at him. I could see the idea forming. Brydan could hear it.

"No," he said. "No Mirany, that is _not_ the way to sort this out."

"Brydan's right," I said. "You can't give yourself up. They may not give you any information."

"I have to try it," said Mirany.

"No Mirany."

Even Connor was joining in now.

"There's got to be another way," he said.

Mirany looked at each of us in turn.

"I'm sorry," she said, dashing out of the room before any of us could react.

"MIRANY!"

Connor and I dashed out after her, but she had already disappeared. I sniffed and headed off after the telltale wolf scent she left wherever she went, but I was too late. I heard car doors slam, then wheels screeching away. I stared through the open door as the car disappeared.

_Why can't you ever just listen for once?_

There was silence.

_Mirany?_

"She's unconscious," said Brydan, coming up behind me. "She's not going to answer any time soon."

...

**MIRANY**

If you've ever been kidnapped, you'll know that a comfortable bed isn't generally the place you find yourself in when you wake up or have the blindfold taken off you or whatever, so you'd understand why it was weird for me to wake up in one. If you haven't ever been kidnapped, I wouldn't recommend it. The headache that came with the chloroform wasn't nearly as welcoming as the surroundings I found myself in.

The people I found myself with were about as welcoming as the chloroform. As everything came into sharp, painful focus, I noticed the inhabited chairs nearby, and recognised all too well the people sitting in them.

"I guess reincarnation really does exist," I said coolly.

Mum and dad looked calmly at me.

"We're glad to see you awake," said mum.

"You probably have questions," said dad. "Which we will answer once you answer ours."

I gaped slightly at him.

"In your 'rising from the dead' thing, did you get driven mad?" I asked angrily. "You have got to be bonkers if you think that I'm going to answer anything you ask me until I get _all_ my questions answered. I'm not the one that's supposed to be DEAD!"

Mum moved from the chair to sit on the bed beside me. I clambered away, falling off the mattress and scrambling to my feet, glaring at the pair of them as I backed away.

"You know, I can get over the killing people thing. I've done it myself, it's not that hard," I growled. "I can get over the never contacting me. What I can't forgive is that fact that you staged your own death IN FRONT OF ME! YOU HAD ME WATCH WHILE YOU PLAYED DEAD! YOU...ah!

I collapsed against the wall, clutching at my stomach, wanting to tear my insides right out as the wolf tried to take advantage of my anger. How long had I been out?

"Mirany, you should get back in bed," said mum worriedly, moving towards me.

"DON'T COME ANYWHERE NEAR ME! DON'T YOU DARE!"

I lashed out at her with a foot to prove my point. I was a good few feet away from her, but she still withdrew. Dad wasn't quite as scared of me. In fact, he came right up to me and lifted me back onto the bed. At once, the pain stopped. Somehow, the wolf was controlled.

"We have a lot of explaining to do," he said. "I guess the best place to start is the beginning."


	36. Relations Part 2

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**This one is set right after the last one, however there will first be a small flashback period. Enjoy :) Oh, and just in case you get confused, when Mirany's talking to someone in her head she's doing it while she's talking to someone else in front of her, I just couldn't write them on top of each other.**

* * *

_**"A kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come back into being, nor can the dead ever be brought back to life." - Sun Tzu**_

* * *

_**Previously on Angel**_

"Do you know how my parents died?"

Angel shook his head, wary of the answer.

"They were killed by vampires, right in front of me. Two of them held me down while the others pigged out."

...

"Who are you?"

"My name's Kay. I want to help you."

"We fight on our own," said Angel. "You want to help? Stay out of my way."

...

"Didn't your parents ever tell you not to play with knives? Guess that was coming up. Too bad they died before they could."

Mirany clutched the hilt of her knife firmly as the vampire smirked.

"I don't think we were ever properly introduced. I'm Kalem, and this is the rest of my crew."

...

"They killed my parents," said Mirany. "I should have killed him then and there."

...

"You don't want to find them?" asked Angel.

"Of course I want to find them," said Mirany. "But what if I find out that the reason they were hired or whatever to kill my parents was because they were bad people or something? I don't wanna know that. I've been hunting them for two years. To find out why. Why my parents? Why then? To finally have something to go on is amazing but...I'm not sure I want to hear their side of the story any more."

"Mirany, your parents weren't bad people," said Angel. "They were exceptional people."

...

"I know these people. They're Watchers," said Mirany. "They have a son. He's a telepath. It's the same sort of thing as mum and dad."

...

"Can you tell us anything about the people that took your parents?"

"They were vampires," said Brydan. "And there was this woman there too."

He handed Angel a portrait of the woman he was talking about.

"Kay," Mirany hissed.

...

The room was covered in pictures of people. Completely covered. Walls, ceiling, windows, door. It was a stalker's dream room, except that the pictures were of different people, of different ages, races, appearances. Angel identified Mark and Tanya Hunter, along with Mirany and Brydan, but they were only a few of the hundreds.

"What's the betting they're all Watchers?" asked Angel.

"I'm going to kill her," Mirany snarled.

"Somehow I'm thinking that you and Brydan aren't the only ones with special abilities born into Watcher families."

"All these people...they were targetted. We're going to make this stop."

...

"What the hell do you mean, they could still be alive?" Lilah snapped.

"I mean just that Lilah," said Mirany. "It's the only explanation that makes sense. I need to find them. I need to link computers. I need as much power as I can get."

"If we link interfaces, I'd be jeopardising my entire career," said Lilah.

"Lilah! This our parents!"

...

"I guess reincarnation really does exist," Mirany said coolly.

Mark and Tanya looked calmly at her.

"We're glad to see you awake," said her mother.

"We have a lot of explaining to do," he said. "I guess the best place to start is the beginning."

* * *

**MIRANY**

I stared from mum to dad and back again.

"I don't want to listen to some story you managed to cook up while I was asleep!" I snapped. "In fact, I don't want to listen to you at all. You cannot possibly hope to justify this! Where's Angel?"

"We'll tell you after you listen to us," said Mark calmly.

But there was no way I was going to accept that answer. No way in hell.

_Angel? Angel, can you hear me?_

_He can't, but I can._

_Brydan?_

"Mirany just hear us out," said Tanya. "Then you can make your own decision about all this."

"I've already made my decision! Let me go."

"Well then hear us out and we might be able to change it," said Mark.

_Where's Angel?_

_Unconscious beside me. Mirany, have you seen my parents?_

_No Brydan, but we'll find them, I swear. Where are you?_

_In some sort of dungeon somewhere beneath you. I can tell that we're definitely in the same building as you._

I was shaking more violently now.

"Why should I listen to you? What could you possibly have to say that would make everything alright? I want to leave!"

"We can't let you do that sweetheart," said dad.

_Seen anyone?_

_Nup. There's no one down here but us. But I'm on red alert just in case._

_Good, stay that way. You might need to fight._

"Don't call me that," I growled. "I'm not your sweetheart any more. I haven't been for three years. I'd finally let you go and now you come back into my life! You can't just do that! I was better off with you dead!"

_Fight who? What's going on?_

_Nothing good, I can assure you. Just keep your guard up._

_I have no intention of letting it down._

"Mirany, you searched for us," mum pointed out.

"Only because you got me involved! You told them to make me come after them! You used the same group of vampires!" I yelled. "You've been going after Watcher families with special abilities for years! And you set up someone I trusted to take the fall! I KNOW IT ALL! I KNOW WHAT YOU'VE BEEN DOING! YOU CAN'T LIE TO ME!"

"YOU KNOW NOTHING!" Mark roared in frustration. "LISTEN TO US MIRANY!"

I was abruptly silenced. I hadn't known him as one to usually raise his voice jsut because he was a little angry. I was shaking terribly now. I couldn't decide which of my emotions was the strongest. They were all mixed up together and I couldn't even identify one from the other. Mark placed his hand gently on mine. I want to withdraw from him, but my hand wouldn't let me. Tears were forming in the corners of my eyes. I hadn't seen them in so long and here I was, fighting with them.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" I whispered. "Why did you have to die?"

"Let us explain Mirany," said dad. "Just calm down and listen to what we have to say."

_Brydan, is he awake yet?_

_I don't think he's gonna wake up for a fairly long time Mirany. He looks pretty dead to the world. IF he wasn't a vampire the blow probably would have killed him. He's not waking up for a while._

I sighed quietly.

"Mirany, please," said Tanya.

_Is anyone else with you?_

_Connor's unconscious, that's it._

"Fine," I muttered. "You better start explaining."

...

**ANGEL**

_Mirany?_

The moment I woke up I was thinking about Mirany. The last thing I remembered was trying to find out where she was, the someone swinging a baseball bat at my head.

"She won't reply," said Brydan, who was sitting wiht his back against the wall. "She probably didn't even hear you. They've blocked the connection."

"What can block a blood bond?" I asked, pushing myself to my feet and staring around.

We were in some sort of dungeon, and the corridor outside the cell was too dimly lit to make out anything of use to us. Connor was unconscious at my side, and Brydan looked like he'd basically lost hope.

"No idea. Gotta be a really powerful spell or something I would assume. She's here though. In the building. Just can't ask her where."

"Wes, Lilah, Cordy?" I asked.

"Lilah's here, the others aren't. I tried to contact them but I can't contact anyone outside of this building. Same sort of spell I think. I tried to talk to Lilah but she told me to bug off. Apparently she can take care of herself. I was trying to get her to at least tell me how they got her when they moved her to the same place as Mirany."

"You talked to Mirany?"

"Yeah, and she was halfway through telling me something important apparently when she cut off."

Connor moaned slightly and opened his eyes.

"Ah, dear god. What did they hit me with?" he groaned.

"Baseball bat," said Brydan. "They didn't hit me. I think they thought I wouldn't survive it or something. Don't know. They were well trained with the mind blocking thing. Apparently anyone who has any connection to what's going on here is. They just chloroformed me."

"We have to find Mirany," I said.

"How? In case you haven't noticed dad, were in a cell," Connor pointed out.

"They send someone down every few hours to check we're not tearing each other apart or something," said Brydan. "They always have a key."

I grinned.

"Alright then. Plan- Ah!"

Both Brydan and I clutched at our foreheads. Images flashed into my head in quick succession. A dark room. A disfigured humanish shape. Lilah hanging bleeding in chains. Knives slashing downwards. I opened my eyes as the pain vanished. Brydan was staring at me in horror, panting hard.

"She's trying to break through the spell," he gasped. "She probably can't talk to us, and probably won't be able to hear anything we say, but sometimes when a person's in real danger the adreniline kick boosts their power. They can partially break through even the strongest of spells. She's trying to communicate best she can."

"You mean what we just saw is what she's seeing right now?" I asked.

Brydan nodded.

"What'd you see?" asked Connor.

"I think she's trying to tell us where she is and what's going on. One thing's for sure, she's not enjoying it," I muttered. "That figure...I think we're dealing with shape-shifters."

"Why plural? I only saw one," said Brydan.

"So did I," I said. "But I'm positive Mirany's parent's died. If both of them are alive at the moment though, then there's gotta be more than one thing taking on an appearance that they shouldn't. And what better way to gain the Slayer's trust than to be her parents?"

"They're gonna kill her," said Connor. "We don't hav eitme to wait for someone to come down here. We have to get out now."

"What was Lilah doing there?" asked Brydan.

"They probably have a grudge agaisnt the whole family, not just Mirany," I said, kicking at the lock repeatedly. The metal was bending, but not breaking. "I can't believe I didn't figure this out before. Vampires have always been lackies for the shape-shifters. It makes sense."

"What do they want with my parents then?" asked Brydan.

"Probably nothing, sorry to say," I said. "They've probably only been killing Watchers in the hope that someone would go to Mirany. If they were kids of Watchers and they died in the same way as her parents, Mirany'd be much more likely to follow up on it."

I kicked again and the door finally spung open.

"Alright. Let's go find her."

...

**MIRANY**

My wrists throbbed painfully from holding my dead weight. My knees almost touched the floor, and I could have stood up I could have found the strength, but as far and strength went I was sadly lacking at this point. Across the room stood the thing that had been my father, keeping to the shadows. I saw the silver of a long knive that he was turning over in his fingers. He was just waiting for any excuse to cause us pain.

Lilah was hanging from the ceiling nearby, covered in blood, her head hanging low. I wasn't even sure whether or not she was conscious. No, wait, she was conscious. She'd glanced at me worriedly. Like I was in a worse condition than her. Actually, if I was in worse condition than her, that might explain the blurred edges of my vision.

I was sure I'd managed to send some sort of message to Angel and Brydan. I hadn't felt the spell blocking when I sent it like I felt the spell now. If was like a huge pressure on my brain and certainly did not help my predicament. Every time I tried to talk to Angel my head felt like it was on fire. It certainly stopped me from trying too hard.

The door to the room opened and for a moment I was sure that it would be Angel that walked in, but then I heard the voice of the other shape-shifter, the one that had not only been my mother, but I had found out had also been Kay. Angel had been right not to trust her after all.

I couldn't understand a word they were saying to each other. They were speaking in some random language I had never heard before, probably one that they'd made up, but I could tell that they were agitated. Their tones were worried and angry. They spoke urgently for a few minutes, with me listening in, hoping that they would speak English so that I would be able to understand. But they didn't, and once their conversation was over, the door closed and we were left alone with the demon again.

"I've just had some rather disturbing news," said the demon, coming over to me. "Angel and the two others have apparently disappeared. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"

"Why do you assume it's my fault that you have a security issue?" I spat. "Do I look like I'm in any condition to aid and abeit right now?"

The manacles around my wrists sprung open and, caught by surprise, I sprawled on the floor. The demon stood above me, snarling slightly.

"Stand up Slayer," he growled.

"Actually I'm quite comfortable here. I really think I'll-"

The shape-shifter didn't let me finish, dragging me to my feet by my ear. It glared at me for a moment before swinging a hammer-like fist into my jaw. I staggered away and it kicked me hard in the solar plexus. I doubled over, groaning, but it didn't give me any time to recovered, sending a knee into my face, making me drop to all fours.

I could taste blood running from my nose into my mouth, and I was pretty sure he'd broken a couple of my ribs with that kick. But he didn't stop. One, two, three, four kicks to my stomach and chest had me curled up on the ground, barely conscious through the pain. If my ribs hadn't been cracked before, they were definitely broken now.

"Pathetic," the demon spat. "I expected more."

Through pain-blurred eyes, I watched him move over to Lilah, unchaining her. He was going to kill her. She wouldn't survive a beating like that. I barely had. The demon was one of the strongest I'd ever come across. I couldn't rely on Angel to find us in time, even if he had managed to escape wherever it was that he had been.

Lilah groaned with pain as he hit her.

"Stop," I whispered.

The demon paused, looking down at me with amusement.

"What?" he all but chuckled.

"Stop," I repeated more firmly.

I struggled to my feet, trying to ignore the pain that was pulsing through my body. I knew what I had to do, I just hoped I'd be able to come back from it before I hurt anyone that didn't need to be hurt. I dropped my defenses and the wolf took over at once. Human canines became fangs, fingernails turned to claws, and vision increased ten fold as my eyes yellowed.

...

I pushed the human part of myself where I had been, in the darkest corner of my mind and body, as I took over completely. I was so glad to be out of my confines, but even my joy of being free wasn't enough to abate the anger I was feeling right now.

I snarled at the demon angrily. The pain was nothing. The wounds would heal, but my anger was uncontrollable. I dived at the shape-shifter, ripping at it with my claws and trying ot latch onto it's throat with my teeth. It put up a good fight, but it was no match, not for me. My fangs found it's jugular and tore at it, ripping it right out of the demon's body. The demon froze, a look of horror on it's face, then dropped to the ground without a sound. Green blood pooled around it, smelling putrid.

As I stepped away from the body, the unmistake scent of human blood filled my nose and I turned to see the woman backed against the wall, looking disgusted and watching me closely. I came right up to her, sniffing at her wounds and sizing her up. She didn't look like she'd put up much of a fight either.

She was looking scared now. But as I began to flex my hands and bare my fangs, getting ready for the kill, I could feel the human trying to take back control of my body. I tried to fight her off, but I had only been in control of this body for a minute or so. I didn't have a good grasp on it and I felt myself slipping. I let out a howl then was put back to sleep.

...

I stared at Lilah for a moment as I regained control of my body, pushing back my wolf side to where it had been before.

"Lily..."

I couldn't get any further. My knees gave out and a wave of blackness fell upon me as I hit the floor.

...

**ANGEL**

"She's close," said Brydan. "I can sense it."

"Well done psychic boy," said Kay as she stepped out of a room nearby. "But you're going to have to go through me first if you want to get to her."

"What have you done to her?" Connor growled, his fists clenched angrily. He looked about ready to kick this bitch right back to whatever hell dimension she'd come from, and I certainly felt the same.

"Mirany's really not the person you should be worrying about right now," said Kay. "If I were you, I'd be a bit more concerned with your own welfare. You should ahve let me join you Angel."

"What? So that we could be put through this scenario whilst trying to fight against the strongest vampire that ever lived? Thanks but no thanks," I spat.

"Where are my parents?" Brydan demanded.

Kay raised an eyebrow at him.

"Here I was thinking that you were a smart boy," she said. "Think about it for a moment. Once you'd gone to the Slayer, what use would we have had for them?"

Brydan moved towards her, looking murderous, but Connor held him back.

"It's not worth it Brydan," he said firmly. "She wants you to do it."

"YOU KILLED MY PARENTS! I'LL KILL YOU!" Brydan shouted, wrestling with Connor.

"That's what they all say," said Kay, sounding bored as she examined her nails.

Brydan snarled and his eyes flashed white for a second. Kay staggered.

"Brydan, what are you doing?" I asked, staring at him apprehensively as he shook violently with rage.

He didn't seem to hear me. His eyes flashed again as he stared daggers at Kay, who was sinking to her knees as she changed to her real form, clutching at her head, her face screwed up in pain.

"Stop," she gasped. "What are you doing to me? Stop!"

But Brydan seemed well beyond any stopping point. The shape-shifter let off an ear-peircing scream as it collapsed. Green blood trickled from it's eyes and ears. Brydan looked away, his eyes normal again. There was silence for a long time in the corridor as we all absorbed what he'd done.

"Are we gonna find Mirany or what?" he asked eventually.

There was a loud howl from the room the shape-shifter had appeared from and I dashed inside to see Mirany collapse in front of Lilah.

"Mirany!"

I rushed to her side and shook her roughly, trying to wake her up.

"Are you okay?" Connor asked Lilah.

"Fine," said Lilah quickly, crouching down beside me and watching her sister worriedly. Mirany's eyes fluttered open.

"Angel?" she mumbled.

I pulled her up so that she was resting in my lap. Lilah took hold of her hand.

"Did I do it?" she asked quietly.

"Yes," said Lilah. "Yes Mirany, the demon's gone."

"Did I hurt-?" Mirany grunted in pain, cutting herself short.

"No," said Lilah. "You stopped Mirany. You did it."

I had absolutely no idea what they were talking about, and was goign to ask, but Lilah gave me an 'I'll explain later' sort of look.

"Right," I said. "We need to get you home."

Mirany mumbled in agreement as I lifted her into my arms.

...

"Guess we were wrong about your parents teaching you not to think outside the square. They really are, unfortunately, dead," I said, handing Mirany a beer and sitting down beside her.

"Uh huh," Mirany grunted, playing with the drink.

"Are you disappointed?"

Mirany considered me.

"No," she said finally. "No, I'd much rather my aprents dead than killing people."

Mirany took a swing and stared at the wall, sighing.

"We never found out why," she said.

"Doesn't matter, not when they're demons," I said, running my fingers through her hair. "They just wanted to kill."

Mirany rested against my chest and wrapped my arm around her waist.

"Whoa, okay. If you two are going to have a moment, could you get a room?" asked Brydan, pulling a face as he walked by.

"Hey, I'm letting you stay here but don't think that I won't kick you straight back out again," said Mirany. "I can do what I like, where I like. You're the one that's restricted on that. Keep all your chicks upstairs and limit your time down here. Why are you here anyway? I thought you had to meet someone."

"I did, and now I'm back," said Brydan.

"Then go away and leave me and my vampire in peace."

"I didn't realise you owned me," I said in her ear.

"I have always owned you," I informed him. "Even when I didn't like you."

"Fine," muttered Brydan. "Like I want to hang around you two at the moment anyway."

He left the room without a backwards glance and Mirany poked her tongue out after him.

"Mature," I commented.

"No one informed me that I had to be mature. Only that I had to stop killing people."

I rolled my eyes, kissing her cheek before working my way down her jaw line and neck.

"Angel?"

"Mmm?"

"Why is he staying with me?"

"Because he did something that someone with the amount of control over their power that he has shouldn't be able to do. I just want to keep an eye on him."

"Brydan's not going to turn into some crazy killing machine Angel," she said.

"It doesn't hurt to keep an eye out Mirany," I said. "I just want to be sure."

"Well..."

Mirany got to her feet, pulling me with her.

"...I'm sure you can take your eyes off him for a while," she said, leading me into her bedroom and closing the door. "After all, I'm a lot prettier than he is."

I smiled as she kissed me.

"Couldn't agree more."

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**This is the end of season 3 :D I'll start another one soon :) Hope you enjoyed this and don't forget to review :)**


	37. SEASON 4 Party All Night Long

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**And I am delighted to inform everyone that Season 4 is now underway. It has been long overdue. I hope you enjoy this season. I do have plans for it. Imagine, me, planning something. Could turn out terrible, could turn out magnificent. We'll have to wait and find out. Anyway, do enjoy and don't forget to review. Oh, and I'm always looking for new or favourite quotes to base my chapters around so feel free to give me some. Maybe a favourite Angel quote? Just a thought.**

**Anyway, enjoy :D**

* * *

**_"After all, what is your host's purpose in having a party? Surely not for you to enjoy yourself; if that were their sole purpose, they'd have simply sent champagne and women over to your place by taxi." - P.J. O'Rourke_**

* * *

"Excuse me?" I asked. "Are you insane?"

Lilah raised an eyebrow at me.

"Right, stupid question. Of course you are," I said. "I'm not going to one of your stupid parties. A large hall of your stupid Wolfram and Hart people plus me equals me being severely bashed!"

"Come on Mirany. One party. Just one time where you flaunt the fact that you're my sister to everyone in the world. There will be important people here! I'm going to need to look as good as I can, and since I'm a blood relative of the most influential teenager in the world, I'm going to play that card. Now you're coming to this party whether I have to drag you here or not."

I glared at her.

"Why are you always so mean to me?" I asked.

"Because I'm your older sister and it's my job to be mean to you," said Lilah simply. "And for once, it actually _is_ my job to be mean to you, rather than just my perrogative."

_Party? Can I come?_

_No Brydan, you cannot come. Now stop listening in. How many times do I have to tell you?_

_Your sister really pushes you around a bit, doesn't she?_

_Tell me about it. Hey wait, butt out! Go and find someone else to spy on!_

_Fine, but you're not gonna like the end result._

_Do I ever?_

"So, now we have a situation. Do you own anything that could be considered somewhat appropriate for the occasion?" asked Lilah.

I smirked.

"Why would I? As you love to point out three times a day at the moment, I have no social life. In having no social life, I don't do anything that would warrant the need for such clothing."

"Then aren't you lucky you've got me as your sister?" said Lilah, smiling cruelly at me. "Shopping spree!"

...

"I can't decide who's worse, Lilah or Cordelia?" I muttered, throwing the stupid dress on my bed.

Angel raised an eyebrow.

"Does that really need to be answered?" he asked.

"No," I sighed, flopping down on the bed beside the infernal peice of clothing. The heels lay scattered somewhere in the room as well, but I wasn't about to keep track of them. "I know perfectly well that I'm lucky to have Lilah as my sister as far as clothes go. Imagine if Cordelia lived with me."

I shuddered.

"Not fun."

"I suppose there's no chance of me seeing you in it?" asked Angel.

"Not unless you're coming to this bloody party," I told the ceiling. "Which, now that I think about it, might actually be a good idea. That way I can get off my head drunk and you can drive me home. Not that I haven't driven drunk before but in a dress and high heels...I don't like my chances."

"Mirany, don't tell me how many laws you've broken if you don't want lectures," said Angel pointedly.

"Too true. Forget I said that," I said.

Angel rolled his eyes as he sat down beside me.

"Am I allowed to come?" he asked.

"I dunno. Ask the wicked witch of the west. Wait, is it the east or the west that gets squashed by the house?"

"East."

"Ask the wicked witch of the east," I amended. "I can't kill her with a house, but I'm sure I'll be able to find something nice and heavy to drop on top of her."

"I'm sure you will," said Angel carelessly.

"No, she'll probably have anything lethal removed from me. Damn. Alright, I'm gonna have to improvise. Cutlery. No, it's a party, there'll be finger food. Uh...jewellery. Haha! Strangulation! Haven't dones much of that really but...oh no. The necklace or whatever will probably break, won't it? Spa. Drowning. Oh no wait, she can swim. Uh...this is harder than I thought."

Angel had an exasperated look on his face.

"Ranting?" I asked.

"A little," he said, brushing my fringe out of my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "I just really don't wanna go. What's the betting that someone will kill me there?"

"Does that require an answer as well?" asked Angel.

"You're not instilling much confidence here Angel!" I said pointedly.

Angel shrugged.

"I didn't realise that was my job," he said.

"Well, you're self-appointed so I'm not entirely sure what your job description is either," I muttered.

"Hey, stop being so bitter. It's one party," said Angel, leaning on his hand as he lay down beside me.

I sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

I turned to look at him.

"But I still don't wanna wear that dress."

...

"You know, I thought maybe the fact that you would be here might make me feel slightly better about this, but no, it doesn't," I said fervently, taking a glass of champagne from a waiter and downing it in one.

Angel bit his lip, steering me away from the crowd.

"We can leave Mirany," he said. "If you're that worried about this then we can go."

"No, we can't," said Lilah pointedly, coming over to us. "You're going to stay right here and you're going to enjoy my party."

"Well, that'll all depend on how drunk I get, won't it?" I said pointedly. "I mean come on Lilah. I'm in a dress that starts at my breasts and ends about two inches from the start of my legs, I'm surrounded by people and demons that don't like me and oh my god, what the hell is he doing here and who the hell is that bimbo?"

Angel and Lilah both turned to look at Connor as he walked in, a blonde, double-Z cupped girl hanging off his arm. As we watched they exchanged a few words and then tongues before splitting apart. I felt like throwing up what little I had in my stomach.

"Don't you know her? That's Bella Thomas. She's the daughter of the Police Commisioner of LA," said Lilah. "How Connor met her though is beyond me."

"She's been hanging around the hotel lately. Brydan knew her. Introduced them," said Angel unenthusiastically. "Every time she talks I feel like slitting my wrists. Most annoying voice I have ever heard. I didn't know you hadn't seen her before. Although, it's not much of a surprise that you haven't seen her now that I think about it, but it is a surprise that you haven't seen any of the girls he's been hanging around. Ever since he and Brydan became friends there's a new one every week."

I didn't understand why I was so annoyed by this. Connor and I were well and truly through, we both knew that. Why should I care who he brought home with him? I mean, I was going out with his dad, and according to Cordelia, I had only been going out with Connor to get to Angel, though that logic was still far too whacked out for me to understand.

"Anyway, back to you," said Lilah. "You can come with me. Angel, mingle."

Before either of us could object, Lilah was dragging me into the crowd of people.

"Lilah, this is stupid. You know I'm no good at parties," I whined.

Lilah raised an eyebrow at me, then her face slowly spread into a wide and positively evil grin.

"What? Lilah, what?" I asked cautiously, trying to twist out of her vicelike grip before she could kill me or something.

"Bella, there's someone I'd like you to meet," said Lilah over my shoulder. "Bella, this is Mirany. Mirany, Bella."

I stomach felt like someone had emptied a bucket of ice into it and I shoot Lilah the coldest glare I could manage before she slipped away, leaving me with Connor's latest flame.

_Worst night of my life._

_I'm afraid I'm only going to make it worse._

_What? How?_

_Tried to get some fresh air, couldn't. Door's have been sealed, and not in the human way._

_Damn._

"Look, I'm really sorry but I have to..." I started, turning away, but she grabbed my arm and led me to one side of the room.

"You seem really nice. Let's chat for a while. Do you want a drink?"

"Several," I muttered.

Trying to get away from Bella was like trying to squeeze blood from a stone. About as likely to happen as a three year old diverting a nuclear bomb. Angel was right. She did have the most annoying voice ever. And just when i thought things couldn't get any worse than they already were, Connor joined the conversation.

The frostiness between us was evident at once, but neither of us was going to make a scene in front of all these people.

"Mirany," he said shortly in greeting.

"Connor."

"I see you've met Bella."

"Yes, good to finally meet your girlfriend. After all, you know my boyfriend so well."

To anyone who wasn't in the immediate circle of knowledge, Connor's reaction would ahve been rather strange. It wasn't as if I'd shot him down or anything.

_Be nice._

_There is absolutely no chance of that ever happening._

"So you two know each other then? Wow, small world."

We both ignored her. We were far too busy glaring at each other. At that point, just to make matters about as bad as they could possibly get, Angel decided to come over, wrapping his arm around my waist and moving to steer me away, but Bella stopped him.

"Oh wow, you're going out with his brother? I didn't realise. When you said that Connor knew your boyfriend so well I thought maybe you were going out with his friend but wow. It really is a small world."

"Excuse us," said Angel shortly, pulling me away without difficulty.

"Would you care to join me in ripping out her voice box?" I asked him.

"Absolutely, but not right now," said Angel in all seriousness. "All the doors and windows leading in or out are sealed. I can't open a single one of them, and trust me, I've tried. Mobile phone signals have been cut. There are cold spots all over the place. I think we're dealing with a ghost. A seriously pissed off one. The fact that it's here when there are so many people makes me think it's planning a huge massacre."

"Well that's just great, but see, I'm all out of ghost fighting materials at the moment, how about you? Think you pick something else?" I said pointedly. "Have you talked to Lilah?"

"No, I can't find her anywhere, which doesn't bode well either. The lifts aren't working so I haven't checked much upstairs but I would think she'd be down here with the rest of the VIPs if she was going to be anywhere. Although, this whole place is packed, top to bottom. I think she's invited the whole of LA to this thing so I might just have missed her. Ghost with a grudge in this place is seriously dangerous right now. And because it's not letting anyone out..."

"Well, what do we do? How do we stop it?" I cut over him.

Angel was about to answer when Connor came over.

"Problem?" he asked. "Besides Mirany's existance?"

"Well, your face isn't every inviting at present," I snapped.

"Ghost," said Angel shortly. "Everywhere's sealed. Can't contact anyone outside."

"How do I help?" asked Connor.

"Just go back to your prostitute and let the grown ups handle it," I growled.

Connor glared angrily at me.

"She's not a prostitute! She's more powerful than you," he snarled.

"Doesn't mean she's not a prostitute, just means she's got a rich daddy," I said poisonously.

"If you say one more word..."

"You'll what? Hit me? Connor, you know better than that."

"Can we do this later?" Angel interrupted angrily. "We ahve a serious problem here. Now pull it together and let's get to work. Somebody give me an idea on how to get rid of thing."

"Burn the bones?" Connor suggested.

"Oh yeah, that'll work," I said sarcastically. "We're stuck inside a bloody building you idiot! I seriously doubt that we're going to find the bones of a dead person here right now! Use your head for god's sake! I say our best bet is an exorcism. This place is full of stuff. I'm sure we could get everything we need. And in the mean time we keep it at bay with silver. They hate the stuff. We just need to find Lilah. I doubt that the exorcising equipment is out on display."

"I'll look down here," said Connor.

"We'll search the floors," said Angel. "Find something made of silver and if you see it, stab it."

"She's probably in her office," I muttered to Angel as Connor left. "That's the only place I can think she'd be. Maybe she's getting something."

"Alright. You go there, I'll search the rest of the place. Be careful."

...

Lilah's office floor was so high up in the building that is was, mercifully, clear. The lift was currently not operating, god forbid, and climbing the stairs alone had my heart beating about ten times faster than usual, but it wasn't until I got to the twenty-seventh floor that it really started pounding. Leaving the fire stairs and stepping into the corridor leading to Lilah's office, I was going to leave the door open in case I needed a quick escape, but apparently the ghost had other plans. The door slammed shut behind me and I tried everything I could think of before deciding that it wasn't about to open any time soon.

I stepped cautiously down the hallway, all my senses on red alert for the slightest sign of life, or death in the ghost's case. The knife I had grabbed from the buffet table protested to my tight grip, and I looked down to see that the hilt now had finger dents where I had squeezed it. I noticed that it became increasingly colder the closer I got to Lilah's office. If I came out of this alive I was going to make an oath never to let anyone bully me into wearing a dress ever again.

As I walked, I realised that if I couldn't get off this floor, it was rather unlikely that anyone else could get on. That was probably why the floor below was full of people but this one was empty. Almost like the ghost only wanted me up here. And that thought wasn't very comforting at all.

_Angel, I think I'm trapped up here._

I waited, but there was no response.

_Angel? Oh great. Talk about all communications down._

When I reached Lilah's door I had goosebumps on my goosebumps, a combination of cold and paranoia.

"Lilah?"

If there was an answer, I couldn't hear it over the sudden banging of all the other office doors. Creepy.

"Lilah?" I yelled loudly.

"Mirany?"

Lilah's voice was faint through the door, and even harder to hear over the racket, but she was definitely in there, and she didn't sound all too pleased. There was a very slight quiver to her voice that told me she was trying not to act as scared as she felt.

"Mirany, the door won't open."

I sighed. This is why I don't like high heels. You gotta kick down a door in sneakers. It's the only way. Otherwise you end up with your Stilleto heel either stuck in the door or stuck right up into your heel. But as I took off my shoes and wound up to kick at the wood, the door opened by itself. I advanced carefully into the office, looking around. Lilah was leaning against one of the chairs, a silver letter opener clutched in her hand, and the windows were fogged up because of the cold, but otherwise the room looked relatively peaceful.

The moment I had stepped completely over the threshold the door slammed shut, and we both knew it wasn't going to open again.

"Who brought a ghost?" Lilah snapped.

"Don't ask me," I muttered, checking the phone with a sort of futile hope, but it was as dead as the rest of the electronics in the building. "Okay, so we're trapped up here with a ghost, who I'm thinking wants us for some reason, and we have no way of contacting anyone. This is just spectacular."

"What about your mind thing? Can't you...?"

I shook my head.

"We're completely isolated. On top of that, I don't htink that ghost is going to stop once it's had it's fun with us. No one can get in or out of the building which suggests some serious blood spilling. Have you seen it?"

"No, just felt it."

"Alright, the plan is to exorcise it and keep it at bay with silver until we do," I said. "So, tell me, where is your secret store of exorcism things?"

"This isn't James Bond Mirany!" Lilah snapped. "I can't just pull exactly what we need from thin air. I don't keep exorcism stuff in here. All I've got is the actual ritual. Nothing else."

Lilah tossed me a book from the shelf.

"Alright then," I said, opening her closet door and stepping into what was basically a fully stocked kitchen. "We're going to have to improvise. Got any salt?"

Lilah didn't look very happy about that.

...

"THIS IS INSANE!" Lilah yelled over the wind that had started up a few minutes ago and was steadily turning into a gale. I was now very happy that Lilah had suggested fixing everything in place and gluing down the salt lines. She was going to have a hell of a job cleaning it up, but at least we might have a chance of getting out alive as long as everything stayed where it was meant to.

"HAVE YOU GOT A BETTER IDEA? BECAUSE IF YOU DO I'M MORE THAN WILLING TO LISTEN!" I yelled back, ducking as a glass blew straight at my face. "WHERE'S THE BOOK?"

Lilah went over to the desk to grab it but before she could get her hands on it, the book went sailing straight at her and, after managing to hit her hard over the head, straight at me. I was a little more ready for it though and managed to grab hold of it. Lilah was rubbing her head, scowling.

"Never mind," I muttered, opening the book to the page with difficulty and reading through the ritual. "LATIN! ALWAYS LATIN! WHY CAN'T THEY BE IN ENGLISH FOR ONCE?"

"MIRANY, STOP WASTING TIME! YOU KNOW HOW TO READ IT! DO IT ALREADY!"

She was right of course. My parents would never have left me unprepared for a case like this. I'd only been doing Latin for the better part of my life. It was like a second language to me. But in times of trouble, I was having some small difficulties remembering how to pronouce the words. Not that it really mattered, because before I could begin to even think about starting, the ghost decided to make an appearance. And I knew him. The pale man standing in front of us was all too familiar.

"Kadense? I THOUGHT YOU JUST LOCKED HIM UP!" I yelled to Lilah.

"DOESN'T MEAN WE FED HIM! HE WAS A BASTARD! HE DESERVED IT!" she yelled back, shrugging.

My silver knife was too far away for me to reach before the ghost would have figured out what I was doing, so I snatched Lilah's letter opener from her hand as I moved towards the ghost. I really, really hoped it was pure silver. The wind picked up a few more notches as I advanced. It felt like an age before I was somewhat close to the man.

"Kadense. Haven't seen you in a while. Looking good."

"Shut up you bitch! I'm taking my revenge on you and your crew."

"Yeah, I think that one was a given," I said. "But do you think you could turn down the wind a little? You know, so that I can hear myself think!"

Lilah yelled as she was flung off her feet and into the wall by the sheer force of the gale Kadense whipped up, but around me it had abated slightly.

"I had plans for you," Kadense growled. "You were going to help me bring down this infernal place!"

"Yeah? Well did you plan this?"

I slashed at him with the letter openere but he disappeared before I could touch him. I stared around. The wind had stopped completely now and the office was a complete mess, but there was no ghost to be seen.

I noticed the swords just in time. They whizzed past my shoulder as I dived out of the way, and Kadense appeared behind Lilah's desk.

"You should die! You failed me! You will die!"

"Please, I get that every day," I said. "And look, I'm still here."

I dropped to the floor to avoid more swords, but I wasn't expecting the wind that swept me righ toff the floor and pinned me against the windows over looking LA.

"Any last words?" asked the ghost, and I could hear the steady cracking of glass behind me as it struggled to keep my weight. He was going to fling me right off the building. God damn it.

"You never learnt to keep your guard up."

Lilah stabbed at the ghost with my knife and he yelled in pain as he disappeared. I dorpped to the floor and scrambled away from the windows just in case. Lilah picked up the book with the ritual and began to chant through it as I leant against the wall, slowly gathering my bearings again. The various substitutes we'd managed to find for each of the items set alight as Lilah finished the chant.

"You know, everytime I come here, I'm almost always killed," I told Lilah. "I'm never coming here again. Oh, and I have to say it, I TOLD YOU SO!"

The door came crashing down as Angel barged in, holding a silver knife at the ready. We both scowled at him.

"Little late," I informed him, grabbing his arm and steering him out of the office. "Come on, let's blow this joint."

...

I glared at Connor as he passed, his arm wrapped firmly around Bella Thomas's waist. He glared right back before disappearing up the stairs.

"Jeez Mirany, tone it down a little," said Angel. "At least he's moved on."

"Yeah well, he's being a bastard about it," I muttered. "Flaunting his far too overly proportionated girlfriend in my face."

"Careful Mirany. Anyone might think that you're jealous," Angel commented, sitting in front of me on the coffee table, smirking.

"I'm not. I'm perfectly happy with my member of the blood line, thank you very much. I just think that he could do a better job of moving on."

Angel lifted my hand and kissed my palm lightly.

"Stop worrying about it," he mumbled into my skin. "He'll come to his senses. He'll eventually realise that he wants to go out with someone who has a brain as well as a body. In the mean time, why don't you just let it go? He's not your problem anymore."

"Yeah, but..."

Angel placed a finger on my lips to silence me.

"Stop worrying," he repeated. "You worry too much."

"Well some of us have to worry because others don't worry enough," I said pointedly.

"I worry Mirany, you just don't see it eating me alive," said Angel. "Relax. Let him live a little. Jeez, you're acting like you're his wife or something. Forget about it."

"Fine," I muttered. "But I'm going to beat the crap out of Brydan the next time he decides to show his face."

_Which is precisely why I'm not going to._

_Oh, you will eventually. Everyone's gotta eat sometime._

Brydan shut up.

"Well, until then, maybe you should be enjoying yourself," Angel said, pulling me to my feet and leading me upstairs.

I smirked.

"Party."


	38. Barnyard Blitz

***AUTHOR'S NOTE***

**I couldn't find a quote for this one, so if you have any suggestions, let me know. Enjoy and don't forget to review :)**

* * *

"Angel, I hate to ruin your exploration of my body art but do you think you could concentrate for a moment?" I asked, slapping his hand away from the small of my back.

"Yes," he said absent-mindedly, drawing his eyes away from the rose vine printed on my skin. "What were you saying?"

"I'm trying to come to a compromise about how often I train and patrol here so that I can get some...you're not paying any attention at all, are you?"

His eyes were fixed on my tattoo again. I didn't understand why he was so captivated by it today. It wasn't as if it was the first time he'd seen it. But no, today he was going to stare at it.

"Hmm? No, I'm listening, really," he said, looking back up at my scowling face. "Alright, maybe I'm not."

I rolled my eyes. No surprises there.

"I swear, I'm going to get that thing removed," I muttered.

"No don't," said Angel quickly. "I can concentrate, I swear."

"Alright then. I'm going patrolling tonight, and I'm not training until past twelve tomorrow," I said, deciding if I just got straight to the point, he might take it in before he got lost in my body art again. "That way I can get some...Angel stop!"

I grabbed hold of his chin and physically turned his head back in the direction of my face.

"What did I just say?"

"Patrolling tonight, not training 'till twelve tomorrow," said Angel patiently, kissing my forehead. "I know Mirany. I told you I was listening. You're not the only one that can multi-task."

I scowled at him and go to my feet.

"Learn to control your hormones," I ordered, snatching up a sword and striding out of the hotel.

_Yeah, like that'll ever happen._

_We can dream._

_Why would you dream about that?_

_Because I have more than one tattoo._

...

My aim when I go patrolling is not to get beaten up, stabbed, bitten, disembowled, impaled, or any other form of injury that you can come up with. My aim is to dust a couple of vamps then go home and relax. Just thought I'd make that clear. How often does that happen? About once a year.

Tonight was, unfortunately, particularly bad. Not because I dropped my guard or anything. Actually, I was doing an amazing job. It was going to be that night that I might actually leave without a severe injury. Man, talk about thinking too soon.

Any other time, it would have been fine for Brydan to decide to strike up a conversation in my head. Any other time at all. It might have annoyed me, but it wasn't likely to get me killed. This time however..

_Mirany, got a job for you._

The suddenness of his speaking to me made me lose my guard and I was rewarded by a solid punch to the jaw.

_Kinda busy Brydan._

_Doing what?_

_What do you think?_

_You're having sex._

_What!_

The vampire behind me chose the same moment to try to knock me out with a large tree branch. I grabbed it just in time but the other two lashed out a me, one hitting me in the face again, one kicking at my back and sending me sprawling.

_Can we have this conversation another time, please?_

_Did you just say 'please'? Wow, some call Ripleys._

_Brydan!_

_Look, I have a case. There's this guy I know, he owns a sort of farm thing, something's freaking out his animals. Since animals tend to have a sixth sense, I thought maybe you might want to check it out._

I kicked at the closest vampire's legs and managed to fracture a shin, but one of the others kicked at my chest, and easily broke one or two of my ribs. This is what I got for thinking I was on the home streak.

_Brydan. Another time._

_Come on Mirany. I owe him a favour._

_Then you do it!_

I threw my stake at one of the vampires and it went straight through his heart. His disappeared in a cloud of dust and I took his friends' momentary shock to jump back to my feet and scoop up my discarded stake.

_You know I can't do that stuff._

_Why not? It's not that hard. Just go and check it out. You don't have to fight any demons that might be there._

_Mirany please?_

I swung a foot into the head of the nearest one and he staggered away. The other one grabbed my arm as I went to swing at him, but I simply kneed him in the groin and shoved my stake through his back.

Through the dust the last one dived at me and wrestled me to the ground. I slammed my palm into his nose and he recoiled. I rolled him over and staked him as well.

_Mirany?_

_Next time you have someone who needs my help, just wait and tell it to my face._

_Sure, but will you help?_

_Have you told Angel yet?_

_Yeah._

_Then I don't have a choice._

...

"Uh, I forgot to ask, what sort of animals are here?" I asked.

Brydan shrugged.

"Dunno. What sort of animals do you usually find on a farm-like sort of place?"

"Horses?" I asked.

"Well, those are generally typical of a farm," said Angel, giving me a confused look. "Why?"

"Just wondering," I muttered.

"I'm so glad you came. The animals have been going wild. I can't control them. Brydan said that it might be demon related."

The guy, Samuel, was maybe twenty, a little older at most, but not much. He was tallish, about my height, and he had light brown hair and hazel eyes. He looked very much like an 'average joe', you know, except that he owned a farm. Who owns a farm in LA anyway?

"Which animals did it start with?" asked Angel.

"Dogs, then the horses."

"Great," I muttered. "Just great."

Angel was smiling slightly, as though he was figuring out why I was so annoyed by this case.

"Dogs live just after the horses, right?" he asked. "Towards the back of the land?"

I glared at Samuel, silently threatening to kill him if he made an affirmative. But clearly, the man wasn't very bright.

"They live at the end of the barn, horses at the front."

"There's a door straight to them right?" I asked.

Samuel shook his head.

"Nah. Why would I need it?"

Angel's smile turned slowly into a smirk. He knew exactly what I was worried about.

"Alright then, they'll find their way there," said Brydan. "I'll stay here with you. I really, really don't want to get involved."

I opened my mouth to protest but Brydan had already closed the door in my face and Angel was leading me towards the barn by my waist before I could get away.

"I dunno, this doesn't really seem like a real case. Maybe we should go find some vampires to kill," I said.

Angel raised an eyebrow.

"You're going to have to face the horses," he said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked quickly.

"You, and your irrational fear of horses," he said matter-of-factly.

I swallowed.

"I still don't know what you're talking about," I said, shying out of his grip and stopping.

"Yes you do," he said, stopping and smirking at me.

I remained as implacid as possible. He had me. I knew it, he knew it, the whole world probably knew it. But I wasn't going down without a fight. There was a reason I racked up at the poker table.

"Why would I be scared of horses?"

I shouldn't have said that. I felt the strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, the feeling that told me all too clearly that he was looking through my thoughts, my memories. God damn it. The people I play poker with don't do things like this. The feeling was spreading through the rest of my body now.

"Stop," I muttered.

My knees gave way but Angel managed to catch me before I simply collapsed.

"Sorry," he said. "But you provoked me."

"Guess there's no point in denying it now," I muttered.

"You fell off a horse once and now you're never going to get back on one?" asked Angel.

"I was five years old," I said defensively, steadying myself. "And it was really big! It was scary alright?"

Angel smirked.

"And it's been...what? Fourteen...almost fifteen years since?"

"They just...they scare me, alright?" I snapped.

"Alright," said Angel. "But you're still going to have to brave walking past them, God forbid."

I glared at him.

"Fine then. I'll prove it to you. I'm not scared."

I stormed towards the barn/stable thing and Angel followed behind me. I knew he was still smirking. I also knew that unless they were asleep, I wasn't gonna be able to just stroll past the horses. I know it's an irrational fear. I get that. That's why it's not so much a fear as a phobia. But it's not my fault. At least I'm not scared of vampires and demons, because then there'd be a problem.

The door to the stable was ajar and I pushed it aside easily, stepping somewhat cautiously into the darkness beyond it. I heard Angel scoff and turned to glare at him, opening my mouth to speak, but he held up his hands in submission.

"Sorry," he said.

I turned back into the stable and made my way slowly through to the other side, Angel following closely, but much more confidently, behind me. I could hear snorting and the soft clomping of horse hooves on hay, but I kept my eyes forwards, not daring to look around. Well that was a stupid mistake. I was about halfway through the stable when something snorted right in my ear. Okay, you know I'm not girly. You know I don't scare easily. So don't judge me this one time if I tell you that I might have screamed and clung to Angel. It's a once only, okay?

Angel couldn't help himself and he burst out laughing as the horse passed by quickly, scared, no doubt, by the level and volume of my scream. I hit him angrily on the chest as I pushed away from him.

"Oh come on Mirany, see the humour," he said. "I mean, you fight demons and vampires and witches and zombies and god knows what else but you're afraid of _horses?_ You have to admit that it's a little funny."

"It's not funny," I snapped.

Angel chortled. I glared. Angel stopped.

"It is," he muttered resentfully.

I scowled and stormed the rest of the way defiantly to the other side of the barn, where there was another door. I could hear loud barks coming from the other side.

"When this is over, I think you and I could do with another lesson on how to control your temper," Angel muttered.

"Shut up!" I snapped. "Or I'll make sure that the next sun rise sees you burning up with it."

"That's not very nice," said Angel reproachfully. "Do we need a lesson on friendiness too?"

"Only if you want a stake through your chest," I said, pushing open the door.

I almost got bowled over by the amount of dogs that came jumping on me. And not the frinedly sort of jumping either. They were going insane, trying to tear at me with strong German Shepard jaws. I heard Angel yell as dogs bore down on him as well.

For most people, this would probably be the end of them really. In all honesty, how many people do you know that can fight off a good ten to fifteen German Shepards? Even Angel was having difficulty. So I took it in my stride to use the resources I had, and let myself change.

Angel and I had been practicing. Ever since I had managed to change back again after tearing apart that shapeshifter, we'd been practicing my control. And I was getting good. I didn't need his blood to change back now, only to keep myself in control over longer periods. Now, when most people hear that, they'd think that meant my consumption of vampire blood was going down. Unfortunately, it was the opposite. I didn't need the blood to keep the wolf in control as often, but I needed it to keep myself from slowly going clinically insane. Angel's blood was now, sadly, my life support.

I let out a snarl as the dogs bit at me, and they stopped at once. I slashed at one the was uncomfortably close to me face and it yelped as I cut into it's maw, scurrying away. The others were all backing further away. The ones on Angel had slowed down, but apparently they didn't think I was talking to them. I snarled again, directly at the largest male, who, when farmer boy wasn't around, was probably the leader. He seemed genuinely scared and he backed off at once. The others copied.

I could smell Angel's blood, tempting as ever, trickling from the bites and scratches he'd received. But I was still in control. I could use the wolf without having to give in to the wolf. It took an awful lot of self control not to, at the very least, lick him. God, I'm such an addict. But I managed it, and slowly began to change back. Angel smiled.

"Good idea," he said.

"I'm full of those," I smirked.

"For my sake, I'm going to agree," he said.

"A wise decision."

"What do you think made them do that?" Angel asked, already healing in front of me. He was a quicker healer than I was, but I knew I was probably at least beginning to heal as well.

"Search me," I muttered. "While it may appear so, I don't actually speak dog."

Angel pulled a knife out of a sheath on his ankle.

"Let's go find out then," he said, taking the lead now and edging into the darker room beyond the stables.

I followed without complaint. I'd take a bloodthirsty demon over a horse any day. Yeah, yeah, I know. Weird. It was so dark that I think even Angel was having trouble seeing properly, which didn't bode well. We usually fought better when we could see.

"Anything?" Angel asked through the darkness.

"Not as far as I can t- Ow," I muttered, rebounding off the wall and kicking it for good measure. Yeah, I hurt inanimate objects after they've hurt me. I'm cool that way.

"Maybe this was just bust," Angel sighed. "Some sort of chemical in the air or something."

"But weird though. The dogs," I said. "And if there was some sort of chemical, don't you think we'd both be acting a little off as well?"

"Well, at least one of you is thinking."

The voice was rough, a little lower than Angel's, and veyr ominous, particularly since I couldn't pinpoint where it had come from. I found out though. The demon spear tackled me against the wall, causing the flimsy wood to snap under the force and sending me sprawling even further, gaining a nice handful of splinters as well.

I was back in the stables with the horses and the dogs, of which both species were going beserk. I didn't know what this demon was, but it had a very strange affect on animals. The demon was brown in colour, with tiny little black spikes running in rows down it's head and neck. It was wearing clothes, trousers and a tee, which, while it wasn't a first for me, I wasn't used to. The demons I fought against generally didn't care. It didn't really have hands so much as small tentacle-like things, which gave the illusion of it having very, very flexible fingers.

It was those things that were currently wrapping tightly around my upper arms. If the vice-like grip wasn't enough to have me wincing in pain, the tiny barbs that the suckers shot into my arms were. I didn't like to think what the demon may well have been injecting me with. At that point in time, I just had to act.

My main problem was, unfortunately, those tentacles. I couldn't just tear them off while the barbs were in me, and the demon basically had contrl of my arms now, not to mention the circulation to my fingers wasn't getting very far. But of course, this was why I'd brought back up. Angel sliced at the tentacles on my right arm with his knife, managing to cut me in the process, but I didn't much care. The barbs had contracted and the tentacles had come loose, and I was able to grab my own knife as the demon howled in pain.

I jabbed at it but the demon was fast, and apparently so were it's regeneration abilities, because it latched onto my hand with newly grown tentacles and jabbed me again.

I figured out then what was being put into my system. Both my arms were getting tingly, and not in the 'I have no blood running through them' sort of way. More in the 'my arms are being paralyzed' sort of tingly. That wasn't good. I didn't want to be paralyzed. I was righ tin the middle of a fight. It was certainly not the best time to lose feeling in my body.

But the demon didn't seem to care much about that little dilemma of mine, probably because he had caused it. I dropped the knife I was holding in spite of myself and it let go of my hand, instead, flinging me by my left arm right into the middle of the dogs as they barked and scrambled around wildly. They didn't dare try to attack me again, but that didn't mean they weren't going to jump on, over nad around me in their maddness.

At risk of getting stampeded, I forced myself to my feet, despite the pain that immediately shot through my apparently broken or in some way severely injured ankle, and went for the demon again. Angel had it in a strangle hold and was doing a good job of avoiding the tentacles that were trying to attach to his face. I scooped up my knife clumsily, wishing that I wasn't full of paralyzing demon poison, and slashed at the demon. I hit it, but barely. The loss of feeling in my arms stopped me from knowing whether or not I was actually working to do any serious damage to the demon, or whether I had just given him the equivalent of a paper cut.

Angel looked like he had things under control...or at least, he looked like he had the upper hand in the fight, which was good, because I couldn't even feel my hands. The tingly feeling was spreading now, moving through my chest and legs. This really wasn't good, and since I wasn't currently being attacked, I backed up into the wall, sliding down it to the ground as the poison really began to take affect. MY thoughts were getting confused and fuzzy, and my eyesight vision had patches of grey in it.

I very clearly heard the snap of the demon's neck as Angel finished the fight, but I didn't see it at all. My eyes were closed and my head drooped to one side as I felt my heart slowing right down.

"Mirany?"

Angel shook me roughly. I only knew that because I'd opened my eyes. I couldn't actually feel him shaking me at all. It was really weird, and from one perspective, really cool. He could have stabbedme and I wouldn't have felt it.

"Mirany, say something," he said.

I said what I thought was 'stop shaking me', but all I heard was some strange groan.

"That didn't come from my mouth did it?" I asked, but again, all that came out was a stream of groaning sounding.

"Okay, don't worry. The effects aren't permanent. You won't be able to feel anything for a while though," Angel grunted as he scooped me up and began to carry me back towards his car.

My head flopped uselessly backwards, but I found it quite amusing, viewing the world upside down while bouncing slightly fromt Angel's footfalls. Sure, I wouldn't recommend getting jabbed by demon sucker barbs just to do this, but I would recommend trying the upside down thing out. It was pretty awesome, and I told Angel so in my weird groans as we walked.

_How about you stick to thoughts until you can talk again?_

_I just thought you could use a challenge._

_I already have a challenge._

_And what might that be?_

_Making sure you don't get killed._

_Ha! Good luck with that one._

_It'd go better if you helped by not putting yourself in unnecessarily dangerous circumstances._

_Can I help it if I'm reckless?_

_Yes._

_True...but you need a challenge._

I was pretty sure he rolled his eyes.

...

"Ow, ow, ah dear god, ow, ouch, oh man that kills," I muttered, takng the steps very slowly down into the lobby.

I wasn't entirely sure why Angel had brought me back to the hotel rather than home, but it didn'treally matter at present. All that mattered was that the paralyzing agent had worn off, and now I was just sore. Very sore. Unfortunately, the only people in the lobby were Connor and his girlfriend, the same one he had at that W.H. party, which I found strange, seeing as I was sure Angel had told me that he was bringing home a new girl every night...every week? Can't remember, one of the two.

Connor glared at me.

"Can you please express your pain somewhere else?" he growled.

"No," I groaned. "Get up. My couch."

Bella motioned to get up but Connor held her in place, staring at me defiantly.

"Oh wow, such an achievement," I snapped sarcastically. "You've forced me to sit on another couch. Very mature."

I hid the smirk that I wanted to flash when he recoiled.

"Where's your dad?" I asked.

"Wait, you're going out with his brother but you don't know that their parents are dead?" asked Bella. "What sort of a girlfriend are you?"

I'd forgotten just how annoying and grating her voice was.

"The sort of girlfriend that knows that guys don't wanna talk," I said, deciding it was probably better not to say 'the sort of girlfriend that knows the real story. He's not Connor's brother', for Angel's sake, though I was pretty sure I'd find amusement from her reaction to the truth.

"I wanna talk," said Connor.

"You're not a guy," I said simply, knocking on Angel's door.

"He's not there," said Connor coolly.

"Then where is he?" I asked.

Connor didn't say anything.

"Connor, I wonder if you've realised that the sooner I know where Angel is, the sooner I'll be out of your hair," I said.

"Oh, you'll be out of my hair before then anyway," said Connor pointedly.

"No," I said, sitting in between them, feeling very happy to have this chance to mess with him, resting my arms around their shoulders. "Pretty sure I won't be."

"Go away," Connor growled.

"No," I said simply. "So, Bell-aaah, what's it like going out with the inexperienced one?"

Connor was clenching and unclenching his fists angrily. He knew full well that I wasn't going to just leave without getting the information I wanted, but I knew full well that he wasn't just about to give it to me. Well, his loss.

"I...uh...Connor, why don't you just-"

"Oh, don't bother asking that question. You'll never hear the end of it," I said. "So tell me, how'd you meet?"

"Oh, Brydan introduced us," said Bella, in that 'oh yay, I've got gossip to tell' sort of excitement, the kind that Cordelia had whenever she'd just finished a magazine. "I've known Brydan for ages and him and Connor were at the same club that me and my girls were at. It was coincidence."

"My girls and I," I corrected automatically. "So, Brydan started this?"

"Yeah. How did you and Angel meet?"

"She murdered about twelve guys and he was investigating the case. He...interviened," said Connor.

_Well if you're going to play dirty..._

"Connor, whatever do you mean?" I asked innocently. "Why on earth would I kill someone? Did you know Bella, that Connor's actually clinically insane? He sees monsters. Vampires and demons he says. I've tried to get Angel to get him help but he insists that he's dealing with it."

Connor looked livid.

"Leave!" he snarled, throwing my arm off his shoulders and pulling me to my feet by my ear.

"OW! Hey! I know you're sensitive about these things Connor but there's no need to become violent. I'm sure Bella will still love you...from a safe distance."

"Connor! Let her go! I understand, really. I'll help you," said Bella.

This was turning out to be better than I thought. Connor was torn between wanting to rip me to pieces and not wanting to lose his chance at getting laid tonight. In the end, he chose getting laid and let me go, muttering a sullen apology.

_That was just cruel._

_Oh, he can take it. Anyway, I only spoke the truth._

Angel shook his head at me as he walked through the lobby doors.

_You're going to get yourself killed._

_He can try._

"Mirany, you're awake," said Angel, ending the mental conversation. "Good, I want to take you somewhere."

"Please, take her anywhere," Connor growled. "Preferably to the middle of a volcano."

"Connor!" said Bella reproachfully. "Don't say things like that! You never know what might happen!"

"Yeah Connor, be careful what you wish for," I said.

"Alright, enough," said Angel, taking my hand and pulling me towards the door. "Come on. You'll enjoy this."

"Have fun," I told Connor. "And don't worry. The scary vampires only come out at night, remember?"

I was out the door before Connor could do or say anything else, Angel chuckling despite his disapproval.

...

"How you thought I'd enjoy this is beyond me," I snapped.

Angel warpped his arms around my waist, rubbing his cheek against mine.

"Relax," he said in my ear. "They're not going to hurt you."

"Angel, I don't want to do this," I moaned, turning around and trying to push him towards the stable doors, but he wouldn't budge. "I can't do this."

"Just try Mirany," said Angel. "You don't even have to get on one."

_Yeah Mirany, what's the problem?_

_Piss off Brydan._

_Well, I would, but I couldn't pass this up._

_Brydan, do you want a roof over your head or not?_

_Fine._

I really, really didn't want to do this. I couldn't believe Angel wanted to work on my fear of horses over every other flawed aspect of my being. Stupid vampire. Angel pulled me closer to the horse, despite my attempts to keep my feet right where they were. It was probably a good thing that I did move in the end. He most likely would have made me anyway with his little jedi mind trick thing.

"Just touch it," he said, moving behind me and taking my hand.

I wasn't going to move my arm. It wasn't going to happen. But my arm moved anyway. Oh right, jedi mind trick.

"Stop it," I muttered.

"I'm not doing anything Mirany," said Angel. "You are."

Oh. I was sure I hadn't told my arm to move, but obviously I had. Angel pressed my hand to the horse's hide and I flinched, expecting...well, I had no idea what I was expecting. Something not good. But something not good didn't happen. The horse turned its head to look at us, then went back to whatever it was that it had been doing as Angel ran my hand along the coarse fur.

"See? Nothing to be scared of," he said.

"Why are you doing this? Surely there are better things you could be working on with me?"

"Baby steps Mirany. No point fixing the big issues if you have ten thousand little ones surrounding them."

"Yeah but-"

"Mirany, I have my reasons. Reasons which I'm not going to tell you. I might, one day, but for now, just trust me. It's for the best."

* * *

***AUTHOR'S NOTE***

**Have to admit, I enjoyed writting this one, even though it took me a long time. Tell me what you think about the interactions between Mirany and Connor, whether they should be friendly or not, and also, if you have anything ideas for an episode I'm more than happy to hear them. Just be aware that I will write them to fit in with my plan for the season, and they might not turn out quite how you'd imagine.**

**Anyway, keep the quotes and reviews coming and I'll have another chapter up as soon as possible :)**


	39. Dark as the Sun

**_"A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship him than a lunatic can put out the sun by writing 'darkness' all over the walls of his cell." - C. S. Lewis_**

* * *

Mirany walked into the hotel shivering.

"Has anyone else noticed that despite the large amount of sun we've been getting it's been becoming increasingly cold?" she asked.

"Yeah, I've had to start wearing jeans again," said Cordelia, scowling slightly at her legs.

"Oh dear god no," said Mirany sarcastically, strugglng to take off her jacket.

"I notice that you're still your annoying self, even when the weather matches that of your home country," said Cordelia bitterly.

"If it's not actually England, why would I be happy to have this sort of weather?" asked Mirany pointedly, still struggling with her clothes as she tried to shed her layers.

"I haven't noticed a change," I said, getting up and helping her pull the jacket off.

"You will eternally function at room temperature Angel. I don't think you count," said Mirany, pulling me back onto the couch.

"Sorry," I said, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and smirking at her. "So I guess you're here to get warmed up?"

"Look, I'm happy for you two to have a sexual relationship, but I really don't wanna know," said Cordelia, covering her ears with her hands.

Mirany grinned.

"I'm going to get some fun out of this," she muttered. "But seriously, it's cold out there. I didn't think LA had a winter. Is it even supposed to be winter at the moment?"

"We're heading into autumn really so no," said Angel.

"Isn't this the 'city of no seasons'?" asked Mirany.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's the 'city of angels'," said Cordelia. "Just putting it out there."

"I couldn't even bring my Harley down, I was so cold," Mirany continued. "I had to go all the way to garage and get my Porche."

"Oh you poor baby, how on earth did you survive?" asked Cordelia sarcastically. "Quite complaining. So we're having a cold spell. It's not as though it's never happened before."

"Yeah but- what the hell?"

She bounded to the window and stared right up into the sun. I couldn't see it, which in my case was a good thing, but apparently there was something wrong.

"Uh, does this usually happen during cold spells or is this something else?" she asked nervously.

Cordelia joined her.

"Oh dear," she said. "Angel, you may wanna take a look at this."

I sighed. Sometimes it really wasn't convienient to be a vampire.

"Cordy, think who you're talking to for a moment," I said pointedly.

Mirany was already on the phone.

"Lilah? Have you looked outside? I take it that it's not a Wolfram and Hart thing then. Oh boy. This is bad. Hang on, I'll put you on speaker."

_"Do you realise what this means?"_ asked Lilah as Mirany placed the phone on the table.

"What does what mean?" I asked frustratedly.

_"The sun, it's slowly turning black,"_ said Lilah conversationally, as though it wasn't a big deal.

"What! Well how do we stop it?" I asked.

"What can we do anyway? We haven't heard anything about this and seeing as we can't go and check the sun for a light switch, I'm thinking we're sorta in the dark here," said Mirany, smirking when she realised what she'd said.

_"Now is not the time for puns Mirany,"_ said Lilah._ "This is serious."_

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" asked Mirany. "There's nothing we can do."

Lilah sighed.

_"Can I please speak to the smart one? Where's Wesley?"_

Mirany looked at me.

"Office."

Mirany scooped up the phone and took it into Wesley's office, talking the Lilah all the while.

"You know, just because we don't have MENSA IQs doesn't mean we're not smart," she told her sister as she disappeared into the room.

"Have you heard anything about this?" asked Cordelia.

"Why do you assume that I would have heard something? Mirany's the one that hangs out at the demon bars. But no, I haven't," I muttered. "But whoever's done this would have to be seriously powerful. And you can't be that powerful without being heard of once or twice."

Mirany had appeared again.

"Anyone else fancy a drink?" she asked dully.

"Well, we can go to Dan's, but no drinking on duty," I said, getting to my feet. "Cordy, you know who to call. See if you can get anything."

...

At the very sight of Mirany walking, Dan was shrinking away. He knew what was coming, and when she locked the door behind me he looked even more scared. I sat down at the bar, deciding it gave me the best view, and let Mirany do her thing. She really was a bit of a show person when it came to this.

"ALRIGHT!" she yelled over everyone. I didn't realise just how many people and demons frequented bars even when it wasn't night. "NO ONE IS LEAVING UNTIL I KNOW WHAT I NEED TO KNOW!"

"Mirany, be reasonable," said Dan timidly. "I know what's happening is strange but that doesn't mean you have to resort to-"

"You first," Mirany snapped over him, glaring at him as she vaulted over the bar. "Tell me Dan, what's the news on the grapevine?"

The whole bar was completely silent now, and I saw a few of the patrons that looked rather nervous trying to make themselves look as invisible as possible, the rest just looked shocked or scared.

"Mirany, I don't know anything, honest to God," said Dan, backing into the end of the counter.

"You don't believe in God," said Mirany, stomping down hard.

Dan didn't yelp, but he did jump a mile, so I could assume that she missed his toes.

"Mirany, what do you want me to say? I don't know anything!" Dan almost wailed.

Mirany hit her target this time. Dan yelped and started cursing, hopping on one leg as he bent ot clutch his foot with the other.

"Try again," Mirany growled.

"All I heard was that there was a plan but I didn't know what it was for!" Dan groaned. "I didn't think it was important!"

Mirany hit him, rather hard, in the jaw and he was sent spinning into the counter again.

"That's a lie," she said.

Dan remained silent and Mirany raised her fist again.

"They said it was big! They said it was big! They said they were going to change the world!" Dan sobbed.

"Who, and why?" asked Mirany.

"A...a group of vampires! They said that vampires had to rule! Vampires were going to rule!"

_Permanent night. You black out the sun, vampires can walk around whenever they want._

_Thank you Angel, I think I got that part._

"What did they look like?"

"I don't know! There were heaps of them! Twenty or something! They were bikers or something like that! All leather and sunglasses, who wears sunglasses at night?" asked Dan, then he yelped when Mirany's knee told him she didn't care. "They were roudy and stuff. They were a gang for God's sake! I can't describe them any better than that!"

"Were they working for anyone?" asked Mirany.

"They said something about a boss, so I guess so," said Dan. "Please Mirany..."

"WHO ELSE HAS HEARD OF THIS GANG? I'M SURE AT LEAST ONE OF YOU WAS HERE WHEN THEY WERE! STAND UP NOW, BECAUSE IF I FIND OUT YOU WERE KEEPING SOMETHING FROM ME, YOU'LL NEVER STAND UP AGAIN!" Mirany yelled, climbing back over the counter. "That as fun Dan, we should do it again sometime."

Dan scowled at her, muttering under his breath about sadists and lunatics.

"Oh, you have no idea," I told him darkly.

_Don't you start._

_I wouldn't dare._

A couple of people and demons stood or raised a hand, and a couple of the ones I was pretty sure knew something didn't.

"Anyone who raised their hand, please step upstairs and await further instructions," said Mirany, gesturing at the 'staff only' door near the back of the bar. "Everyone else hang tight while I consult my lie detector."

"I'm not helping you beat up people who just want a drink," I told her. "Besides, this is a good thing for me."

"Angel!"

I sighed.

"Guy in the far booth under the table. Demon opposite the counter with the blue spots. Man in the corner hiding behind his girlfriend."

"Thank you," said Mirany, picking up a handful of spoons.

I didn't realise what she was going to do with them until there were yelps coming from all three of her victims. She was pelting the implements at the three of them and they all scurried upstairs almost at once.

"Why don't you do that to me?" asked Dan.

"Oh no," I muttered.

Mirany smirked at him and tossed the rest of the spoons at him. Dan yelled with pain as he was showered with metal.

"That was a stupid question. I could kill with a spoon if I wanted to," said Mirany before she stalked upstairs.

"Luckily, she's in a good mood," I told Dan.

"The bitch is mad," said Dan fervently.

"No arguments here," I said.

_What's Dan saying about me?_

_Only that you're an amazing person._

_Lies._

_Yes, but for his safety, I'm not going to tell you what he really said._

_Probably a sensible idea._

"You're the boyfriend right?" asked Dan.

"Yeah," I said cautiously.

"I knew it! I kept saying it, and every time she was like 'I'll rip your tongue out if you suggest such a thing again' but I knew it was true!" said Dan.

"Did you still say it?" I asked, wincing slightly at thethought of the threat.

"Not as often," said Dan. "Man, I don't envy you at all. She's gotta be quite the handful."

I thought back to all the times one of us had pissed the other off, all the fights, the tears, the defiance, the seemingly impossible task of trying to change her back to the way she had once been.

"You could say that," I muttered. "It's not all bad though."

"Well, her being the Slayer, I don't doubt that," said Dan, grinning wolfishly. "How do you put up with it?"

This time I thought about the raw hope and love I felt when I looked at Mirany. The knowledge that she was changing, though she'd never be the same, but perhaps she was even better.

"Beats me," I lied finally. I was not about to spill my guts to a man that spilt his after a punch or two.

_Angel, I'm feeling warm, fuzzy, tingly feelings when I'm trying to be intimidating. I know it's hard to stop thinking about me, but can you try?_

_You need some warm, fuzzy, tingly feelings sometimes. They'll do you some good._

_They can do me some good at a later point in time._

_Alright, I'll stop thinking about my car. Are you happy now?_

_We both know perfectly well that you were not thinking about your car._

_Don't you have interrogations to perform?_

"I really pity that psychic though," said Dan thoughtfully. "She's gonna get torn apart by your girl."

"Psychic?" I asked. Psychics were the sorts of people that had the potential to possess the sort of power needed to create a permanent night. "What psychic? Why didn't you tell Mirany?"

"She was beating me up dude. It slipped my mind," said Dan.

I grabbed hold of his collar and pulled him up to my vamped out face.

"What psychic?" I growled. "What's her name? What does she look like? What have you heard about her?"

Dan swallowed.

"Ease up big boy. No need to get out the fangs. The vamps, they mentioned a chick called Sandelle. I overheard them say she was a psychic. A powerful one too. Bit of a show-woman apparently. Likes to push the tarots and crystal balls stereotype but she's definitely the real deal. I looked into her once they'd left. She sounds pretty dark. Harmless I'm pretty sure, but still into the darker stuff."

"Dan, this is the sort of thing that Mirany won't take very lightly when she finds out you kept it from her," I informed him, letting go of his shirt.

"No, don't tell her. Please," said Dan desperately. "She'll kill me."

"So I'm just supposed to draw this psychic fact from thin air? No, I gotta tell her," I said.

_Dan kept something from you._

_I'll kill him. What?_

_Psychic. Powerful one. Might be the boss they were talking about._

_I'll really kill him._

_Found out anything else?_

_Nothing of nearly as much import as that. Tell him he better have a good excuse by the time I get back down there._

"You better have a good excuse by the time she gets back down here," I advised Dan, who gulped.

The 'staff only' door opened and Mirany appeared, glaring daggers at Dan.

"Yikes," he muttered.

Mirany's eyes were turning yellow, her canines lengthening and nails sharpening into claws.

"Big yikes," Dan squeaked. "Mirany, I didn't mean it. I just forgot. You concussed me. I got temporary amnesia."

"Temporary amnesia?" Mirany growled. "That's your excuse?"

Dan swallowed and nodded. The chair Mirany threw at him narrowly avoided his head as he ducked and smashed into the glass bottles him him, showering the bartender with glass and alcohol.

"Not again," I heard him groan before he straightened up. "Mirany, there was no need for-"

He squeaked as Mirany pulled him by his ear right over the counter so that he was balancing on it by his stomach.

"TEMPORARY AMNESIA IS NOT AN EXCUSE!" Mirany snarled in his face.

Dan looked legitimately scared for his life so I decided it was probably time to intervein.

"Alright, stop. Let him go," I said quietly, prying her fingers from his ear and nudging her away. "There's no need to completely destroy the place. We have a psychic to talk to."

Mirany's face changed back to normal and she allowed me to push her back through the door.

...

"No! You can't just predict the future! There are too many possibilities. It's all just lucky guesswork. They say, you're grandfather will die soon. If he's a hundred and eight then yeah, he will very likely die soon. Have you ever heard a psychic give a specific date?" asked Mirany.

"So you don't believe in the prediction aspect of psychic powers?" I asked.

"No," said Mirany. "Only prophets, real prophets, can predict the future. Even my dreams don't give me a certain date or time. It's all rubbish and previous knowledge."

She banged angrily on the horn of the car.

"God damn bloody traffic! Stop slowing down to look at it! We get it! Sun's dark! MOVE!"

"Mirany, calm down," I said, resting my hand on her shoulder. "Most people don't usually see this sort of thing."

"Neither do we Angel but we're not gawking and holding up traffic," Mirany snapped, leaning against the horn for a long time.

"True, but we do see strange things. Mirany stop."

I took her hand off the wheel, refusing to let go when she tried to twist free.

"Calm down," I said firmly.

"Sorry," she resentfully. "Driving on the wrong bloody side of the road makes me pissed off, let alone traffic. This is just ridiculous."

"We're all a little on edge," I told her. "But do you think you could concentrate on not getting us killed on the road?"

"Alright," said Mirany. "I still don't believe in psychic predictions."

"Well, maybe this will change your mind," I said, letting go of her hand.

...

"Don't bother to knock, I already know you're here," came a voice from inside the penthouse apartment. "Come in."

Mirany dropped her hand.

"That does not prove anything. She probably has a camera somewhere," she told me when I smirked at her.

I grinned and pushed the door open, gesturing her inside. The wall of smell that hit us both was intoxicating. Herbs, incenses and perfumes filled the whole place, which was covered in pink and purple materials and small gems and candles were placed on every surface.

_Oh man. She's a showy psychic._

"Welcome," said a woman, appearing from a side room.

_Probably where she was watching for her visitors._

_Mirany, deal with the fact that she might actually have a gift._

_Oh, I'm sure she has a gift, I'm just also sure that it's not telling the future._

"Sceptics are just as welcome as anyone else," said the woman, looking pointedly at Mirany. "My name is Sandelle. You're here about the sun."

It wasn't a question.

"Sit down," she said, gesturing for us to sit at a table wher a deck of tarot cards lay.

"Oh fantastic," Mirany muttered audibly. "Are you going to tell us our future?"

"Would you like me to?" asked Sandelle.

"We're actually here because-" I started.

"Wait your turn vampire!" Sandelle snapped at me, and her eyes flashed white briefly. I was abruptly silenced. She turned back to Mirany. "Well?"

Mirany wasn't shaken by her confident look. In fact, it just seemed to spur her on.

"Go ahead," she said. "I'll enjoy seeing you fail."

The psychic took up the tarot deck and placed it in front of Mirany.

"I'll let you shuffle. Wouldn't want you to think I was playing you," she said.

Mirany picked up the deck and began to shuffle it in every way possible, making sure that the cards couldn't have been put in any particular order.

_Paranoid much?_

_Wait your turn vampire._

_Shut your mouth werewolf._

Mirany glared at me and I gave her a defiant look as she placed the cards back on the table. Sandelle took them up and placed twelve of them in a rough rectangle in front of Mirany.

"Pick a card," she ordered Mirany.

Mirany pointed sullenly at the top left corner and it was flipped over at once.

"You're quick to jump to conclusions, you act before you think, you don't take much crap from anyone," said Sandelle, examining the card. "You're proud, and you don't mind interaction, but you prefer to be alone, evne if you are essentially a pack animal. Pick another card."

_Accurate._

_She's going off what she can see right now._

_She can see that you're a wolf?_

_Humans are social animals too._

_Pick another card then._

Mirany tapped the far middle right card.

"You have a hidden past. A bad one," said Sandelle as she flipped over the next card.

_You can't deny that._

_Everyone has something bad in their past._

"Murder most foul," Sandelle muttered, running a finger over the card. "You've been forgiven for an unforgivable crime, have you not?"

Mirany's fists clenched.

_How about now?_

_Shut up._

"So you've kept an ear to the demon underground. Tell me something that you shouldn't know," Mirany snapped.

Sandelle gestured at the cards and Mirany flipped one of the top centre cards.

"You'll never truly trust yourself, that's your biggest obstacle ahead," said Sandelle. "You don't believe you can be good since you've already been so bad. You push away help whenever you can. You try to cut yourself off. This is what could end you."

"Oh please," Mirany snapped. "Anyone can tell that I don't trust myself. Trying to cut myself off will end me? That has about as much credibility as the horoscopes page of the newspaper."

"Give me a little credit Mirany," said Sandelle. "I'm no amatuer."

_Did you tell her your name?_

_I don't believe in telling the future. That doesn't mean I don't believe in psychics._

Mirany picked the bottom right corner.

"Fine," she said. "Continue then."

"You have many useful allies, but you trust only one," said Sandelle, glancing at me. "As for the others, you used to trust some of them, but not anymore. Most of them are just tools for getting information."

"Oh good job," said Mirany sarcastically. "I'm here with one person so I only trust one person? Everyone else are just pawns?"

_It's basically true though._

_I can't believe you're taking this stuff in._

_Mirany, the very fact that you're becoming as defensive as you are means that somewhere in that head of yours, you're taking it in as well._

Mirany was silent and frowned as she picked the bottom left corner.

"You live in a perfect world, but something's missing. You have everything you could need, and more money than anyone could imagine, but you miss those you used to share it with," said Sandelle. "Your parents and your brother."

_Hmm...guess work as well I suppose?_

Mirany jabbed at the far middle left card, ignoring me.

"You're out to make amends, but you also need to prove yourself. You need to feel that sense of fulfillment after a task otherwise you haven't done enough. You want to save people, as many people as possible to make up for those you've killed."

Mirany's face was a mixture of disbelief and shock. She was slowly beginning to come around to the fact that psychics were talented beyond anything she'd really experienced before. With a slightly shaking hand she picked one of the bottom middle cards.

"When this case is over and you're back to your normal routine, you'll come back to me," said Sandelle, her eyes shinning now, like she was finally getting to the parts she liked. "You'll seek some sort of knowledge. You certainly won't be a skeptic when this is over."

Mirany was back to scowling and disbelieving.

"Sure. Whatever you say," she said sarcastically.

Sandelle smiled.

"Pick another card please."

Mirany picked the top right corner. Sandelle took her time with this one.

"You're afraid of love, commitmene, trust. Anything that might involve you showing the same sort of emotion. Anything that might make you feel like you belong, or that you're needed or wanted. As much as you want to prove yourself, you stop yourself from trying in case it leads somewhere you're not prepared to go."

Mirany looked taken aback.

"I...I..."

She didn't seem to know how to finish what she was going to say, so she simply picked another card. The other bottom middle card.

"You're strong and brave, and loyal to those you feel deserve it," said Sandelle. "You have a kind heart, but you don't seem to know how to use it. You live your life to the max, and you're rarely disappointed with the outcome."

_Fair enough._

Mirany picked the other top card.

"You consider your life as a bit of a horror/disaster film. Just one monster after another, a continuous run of bad events. And the monster inside you doesn't help. It only makes you aware that there's always something that's out to get you. Always something."

Mirany shivered and picked the right middle card.

"Your job is only going to get harder from here," said Sandelle. "You're no longer the innocent child you once were, and the demons you'll fight aren't the simple vampires you used to fight either. Your job as the Slayer will become harsh. The trail will be twisted and dark. You may lose sight of yourself at times. There will be times when you will have to make difficult choices. Know that your choices will influence your final decision."

"What does that mean?" asked Mirany. "Influence my final decision? What's my final decision?"

She really was sounding like she was beginning to believe in the psychic's so called 'lucky guess work'. Sandelle flipped the last card.

"As the Slayer, your final decision will not be easy. A sacrifice will have to be made, and the fate of the world will rest on what you decide. I don't envy you. At all. With great power, unfortunately, comes great responsibility."

Mirany stared at her, gaping, as she turned to me.

"Now, you came because you were given information suggesting that I am somehow involved in this..."

She gestured at the window.

"...catastrophe."

"If you have any information at all-"

"I will tell you this. While it was not me who was behind this, it was someone just as, if not more powerful," said Sandelle. "He's revered among us as the best psychic who ever lived. I don't know where he is. All I can tell you is his name."

"Sometimes a name is more than enough," I said.

"Aedus," said Sandelle. "Be careful. He likes to play with fire."

Her eyes flashed again and the cards on the table gathered without her touching them and returned to the rest of the deck.

"Take this with you," said Sandelle, handing Mirany a silver necklace chain with a softly glowing stone on it. "It will help you."

"Help me with what?" asked Mirany.

"I wish you luck," said Sandelle, ignoring her question. "I fear you'll need it."

...

Mirany was silent for a long while as we snailed our way through the crowded streets of LA. Panic was beginning to ensue now. People rushed through the streets, yelling about the apocalypse and Lucifer rising. Everyone looked scared. I couldn't blame them. A part of me was scared as well.

"You don't think she was serious, do you?" asked Mirany as we sat in traffic again.

"About her predictions? I think she was deadly serious," I said. What was the point in lying at this stage?

Mirany swallowed.

"Do you think she was right?" she asked.

I paused.

"I think so," I said. "Looking at what past Slayers have had to go through, I'd say she's right on the mark."

Mirany fingered the steering wheel nervously.

"But, I think you should keep in mind that it may be far away," I said. "And from what she was saying, it probably will be. You clearly still have a ways to go before you reach the end of your path. I don't think you should be worrying about it yet."

"Well, when should I worry about it Angel?" asked Mirany angrily. "Next year? The year after that? At what time would you like me to think 'oh yeah, I'm going to have the fate of the world resting on my shoulders. Nearly forgot about that'?"

I frowned.

"That's not what I meant," I said. "You have a task at hand right now. Worry about that. You can worry about predictions later."

"Heard of theis Aegus guy before?" Mirany asked shortly.

I sighed.

"Mirany-"

"Look, I'm focusing on the task at hand, alright?" Mirany snapped.

"No I haven't," I conceeded.

Mirany pulled over outside Dan's.

"Alright then. We'll go in, see if anyone knows anything. You call Cordy and Wes, see if they can find anything on him."

"Mirany, can we talk about this?" I asked.

"I don't want to talk Angel! I've passed the talking stage! I want to act! I want to find the son-of-a-bitch that's done this and I want to show him who he's dealing with! And if that means I have to kill him then so bloody be it!"

She slammed the car door as she got out and I followed suit.

"Mirany, you can't say stuff like that! This is exactly what she meant about you losing sight of yourself! Talk to me Mirany!"

The stake Mirany threw at me missed me by an inch or so.

"No," she said shakily. "I'm done with talking."

She turned on her heal and barged through Dan's front door, slamming it in my face and locking it.

_Mirany, I can kick it down._

_I dare you to try._

Okay, so she was a little beyond reason. I decided it was probably best not to test her any further and left the door alone, sitting outside as I waited for her to finish throwing things. It felt strange to be outside at this time. It was just past four and the sun should have been up, but the sky was dark. The sun was darker than coal. I heard yells and crashes from inside and was somewhat glad that I wasn't in there to witness whatever it was that Mirany was doing. At the moment it looked like I would have been on the receiving end for an awful lot of it.

I sat there for a good half an hour before Mirany came out again, looking very pleased with herself.

"Coming?" she asked as she walked to the car.

"That depends, are you going to try to kill me again?" I asked, cautiously coming over and brushing her fringe out of her eyes.

"That depends, are you going to try to talk to me again?" Mirany countered.

"Mirany, I just-"

"I know, I know. You just want to help. Get in the car already."

She all but pushed me into the passenger seat in her impatience to leave.

"So?" I asked.

"I know where he's going to be tonight," said Mirany. "Apparently there's one more part of this spell thing that he has to complete, otherwise it's not permanent."

"And who told you this?" I asked.

"A vampire in the gang that happens to have a low pain tolerance," said Mirany happily. "Just my luck."

"And if it's a trap?"

"Then I'm gonna fall right into it," said Mirany carelessly. "Don't care. Wanna beat up some bad guys, gotta take some risks."

"Your mood swings are impossible to follow," I told her.

Mirany shrugged.

"Can't imagine why you'd try in the first place," she said.

...

"Gotta be in a chruch doesn't it?" I muttered. "Why can't it be somewhere where I won't be at risk of being pinned to a cross?"

"You're not Jesus," said Mirany, smirking.

"He was a vampire," I informed her. "No one just rises from the grave like that."

"He is a fictional character in a story book," said Mirany. "He never existed."

"Believe what you will," I said. "You don't believe in much, do you?"

"I believe in power. I believe in taxes. I believe in darkness. I believe in evil. I believe in corruption," said Mirany. "Five things that have, and will always, exist."

"You're saying you don't put faith in anything? When you're in trouble you don't think about something that could save you?" I asked.

"Even if God was real, he clearly has a beef against me," said Mirany pointedly. "Do I look like someone who's been 'touched by the Lord'? Why would I put my faith in a fictional character who probably wouldn't like me anyway?"

"That wasn't really answering my question."

Mirany looked up at me.

"I know."

She picked up the chain that lay broken on the ground at the foot of the heavy oak doors.

"Looks like we're late for the party," she said.

"They probably started because we didn't RSVP," I said, grasping the hilt of the knife at my thigh. "You ready?"

Mirany hooked a bolt into her crossbow and raised her sword.

"As I'll ever be."

Together we slammed the doors with our feet, kicking them with enough force to topple an elephant. The doors flung open but before we could do anything we were lifted off our feet and thrown backwards by the wave of power sent right at us.

"They were prepared for extras though," Mirany groaned, getting to her feet.

The man standing in the isle between the rows of pews was tall and stick thin, with salllowed skin and a sunken face. His eyes were deep blue and his hair was turning a salt and pepper grey. He stood strong and proud, but he had a sinister feel about him and his aura was so palpable you could have touched it. Mirany shot at him with her crossbow. His hand caught fire as he swatted the bolt aside like a fly, letting it smolder softly on the floor beside him.

"Um...this entertainment wasn't listed on the invite," said Mirany nervously.

"We were told he liked to play with fire," I said, getting painfully to my feet.

"Slayer. Why have you come here?" he asked. He had a deep, gravely sort of voice that demanded full respect. He was even slightly scary to me.

"Sorry, but I couldn't help but notice that you'd blacked out the sun," said Mirany. "Do you think you could put it back for us?"

Aedus ignored her and turned to me.

"Vampire. You have a blood bond with the wolf. I hope you have a high pain tolerance."

Mirany swallowed.

"The name's Irish right?" I asked him. "For fire."

"My name is not of importance to you," said Aedus, turning away from us. "Just as you are of no importance to me. Leave now and I may spare your lives."

I threw my knife at him, with he only narrowly managed to deflect.

"What can I say?" I said when he glared at me. "I'm not living."

The psychic's eyes turned the same glowing white that Sandelle's had, only they didn't just flash this time. Mriany yelled as she was lifted into the air, hovering a few feet above the ground. Aedus flicked his hand carelessly and she rocketed into the wall behind him, sliding down it to the floor, here she remained, groaning and barely conscious.

"Do not test me," he growled.

I walked slowly up the steps again and into the church, coming right up to him. He was a tiny bit taller than me, but that didn't bother me.

"I'm going to stop you," I hissed in his face. "No matter how powerful you are."

Mirany whimpered as she was lifted again, slamming at high speeds against the roof, where she remained pinned, looking terrified.

"Don't force me to drop her," said Aedus calmly.

His hands crackled with flames as he spoke. My finges curled around the knife at my other thigh.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked.

"So that the vampires in my employ can run free," said the man. "You should not be fighting Angel. You should be thanking me. The chance to walk during the day once more had finally been given to you."

"There's no point in walking during the day if there's no sun," I growled.

I slashed at him with the knife. He didn't have time to react to my attack and I tore a gash right across his chest, but he still had Mirany up against the roof. Not for long. Mirany came crashing down at speeds ten times faster than the norm and remained motionless. But as worried as I was for her, I wasn't in the unbearable pain I knew I would be in if she had died.

Flames erupted on the pews around us, spreading quickly through the rest of the church. I noticed that there was a ring of fire around Mirany, stopping me from getting near her, but also not getting any closer to her. Aedus raised his hands and the flames dancing on his fingers leapt out at me. I dived out of the way just in time, taking cover behind a small separating wall between the body of the church and the small foyer.

Aedus apparated in front of me, growling, flames circling him, reaching for me. I reacted to them with the first thing I could find. Ignoring the burning I got from the holy water as I splashed it, I threw the large, deep bowl at him. The flames went out as the man was drenched in water. And not just the flames around him. The entire church, which had been going up far too quickly, was put out at the same moment. The stone around Mirany's neck was glowing brighter and I wasn't the only one who'd noticed.

"You...you..."

He never finished his sentence. The stone began to shake and beams of light began to come off it at all angles. Aedus did the one thing he could. He disappeared. The stone stopped it's violent glowing and went back to the dim light it had been, but not before one of the beams of light fell on Mirany's face. She groaned as she opened her eyes slowly.

"Ow," she moaned. "Is it possible to have every bone in your body broken without actually being dead?"

I knelt down beside her, brushing her forehead softly.

"Where is he?" she asked.

"I don't know. That necklace scared him off. He could be anywhere. What's important is that he's not here, finishing what he started."

Mirany's arm moved to touch the stone, but it had barely gone an inch before she screwed her face up in pain.

"Ah...god," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Talk about sticks and stones."

Despite everything that had happened, and the condition Mirany was in, my utter relief that she was, to a point, alright, made me laugh.

...

**MIRANY**

I swallowed back the mixed emotions that were climbing up my throat as I mounted the steps. I hadn't told Angel where I was going, even though he'd asked many times. I didn't think I'd be able to stand the grief he'd give me if he knew where I was right now. I was grateful to him though. He could have found out. He was certainly persistant enough. But he didn't.

I didn't bother to knock and pushed open the door quietly. I'd be told if I wasn't welcome. It took me a few moments to recover from the virtual concussion that I received. Once my nose had gotten used to the potent concoction of smells, I saw her leaning against the dividing wall, watching me closely.

"Good evening Mirany. Come to have your fortune told?"


	40. Cyberspace

**_"You know you're a serious game player when the game starts interfering with your life. You know you're an addict when your life starts interfering with the game." - Anonymous_**

* * *

_All I could see was magic fire. Everywhere I looked was covered in bright purple and blue flames. There were screams from outside the building, calling out for help. and I could hear the sirens of fire trucks, but their water was clearly having no effect. In fact, it was simply spurring the flames to greater heights._

_I could see the flickering silhouette of a man walking towards me, and as he stepped in plain sight, I saw the psychic walk right through the flames and lean over the chair I was tied to. His face was so close to mine that we were almost touching._

_"Let's see how cocky you are after you've been burnt to an inch of your life," he hissed. "You'll tell me what I want to hear Mirany Hunter. You'll tell me even if I have to cut the words right out of your throat."_

_I spat at him and he snarled, a flaming hand whipping up to slap me hard in the face. It burnt like nothing I'd ever felt and he raised his hand again, bringing it down to back hand me this time. The flames around us had finally reached me and the chair and were racing up the wood, and my legs. They flew up my legs to my chest and-_

_..._

I woke up with a start, staring around wildly. I was alone, which was probably a good thing, because anyone who might have been with me would have been torn to shreds judging by the deep marks in the bed frame and the destroyed pillows and bedding. The shrill ringing of my phone had woken me up and I felt like kissing the person on the other end, but when I picked up and heard Lilah's voice I discarded the idea.

_"Mirany. I need your help."_

"Lilah, it's six in the morning. Go away."

_"You woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Did you have a bad dream?"_

"None of your bloody business," I snapped.

_"Ooh, you had a very bad dream,"_ Lilah commented. _"Someone going to destroy the world again?"_

"If you don't get to the point, that someone will be me, and you'll be the first to die. Lilah, what do you want?"

_"Mirany, get up, come down here. I need to show you something. I need some help."_

"Are you serious? Lilah, I'm not coming down to Wolfram and Hart at six in the morning!"

_"Yes you are, if you know what's good for you."_

I paused. Lilah could be scarily dangerous if she wanted to be. Having the power of Wolfram and Hart behind you tends to do that.

"Fine," I muttered, grudgingly getting out of bed. "Fine."

Although I was reluctant to go to Lilah, I was also glad she didn't let me go back to sleep. I didn't want to have that dream again.

...

"Lilah, I'm looking at a video game."

I was far more than a little unimpressed. It was some internet RPG, fighting creatures and killing things, and Lilah had dragged me out here at six in the morning to help her with it. I wanted to strangle her. As much as I didn't need to have another of my prophetic dreams, which always basically spelt out my impending doom, I was not at all eager to watch my older sister play online games. In fact, I was livid.

"You mean to tell me that you dragged me all the way out here just to get my help with some STUPID VIDEO GAME!" I screamed at her. "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"

"It's not stupid!" said Lilah defensively. "In fact, it's very interesting. I thought you'd get into it. It's right up your alley. Swords and axes and stuff. Use my other computer. Give it a try."

"I'm not going to play your stupid game Lilah," I growled.

Lilah shrugged.

"Suit yourself. But this is the most popular online game there is. You don't really want to be left out, do you?"

"I guess I'm just a black sheep," I said sourly.

Lilah sighed.

"A.F.K.," she muttered into her headset and paused the game to look up at me. She didn't leave her seat, didn't even take her hand off the mouse, just looked up at me. "You need to chill Mirany. Like, O.M.G. you're stressed."

"What on earth does A.F.K. and O.M.G. stand for and since when did you start talking in acronyms?" I snapped.

"Away From Keyboard and Oh My God," said Lilah. "And I've always talked in acronyms."

I stared at her.

"When did you start playing this game?" I asked.

"Two days ago," said Lilah casually, returning to the game.

"Have you changed clothes, stretched your legs, slept...eaten, since then?" I asked.

"Ceebs," Lilah muttered.

"CEEBS? LILAH I SWEAR IF YOU DON'T STOP TALKING LIKE A TEENAGER AND START TALKNG LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING I'M GOING TO BEAT YOU INTO A YEAR WHERE TALKING LIKE THAT IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY!" I yelled at her. "WHAT THE HELL DOES CEEBS MEAN?"

"W.T.F. Why are you in such a bad mood?" asked Lilah.

I actually had to sit on my hands in order to stop myself from hitting her.

"Lilah, go home. Get some sleep. Have a shower. Change out of those clothes and go for a run or something. Please. Before one of us goes insane."

"Well, from the way you just yelled at me I'd say you're already there," Lilah commented.

I left before I could do her any physical damage.

...

"Angel, I think I have a...oh dear god no."

Connor, Cordelia, Wesley _and_ Angel were all sitting on laptops, eyes tranfixed to the screens as they played the same game that Lilah had been playing.

"Okay, now I _know_ there's a problem," I said, coming over to Angel, who so rarely touched technology that I had to make sure it was him sitting at the computer. "Angel, we need to talk."

"N.K.," he said shortly.

I snarled. I was not going to have to go through another round of translations.

"NOW Angel," I snapped.

"Piss off," he muttered. "And sotp looking over my shoulder. Go play the game yourself."

"Angel, why are you playing this?" I asked frustratedly.

"I.D.K. It's just good," he said.

"Angel, I don't understand gamer talk!" I snapped.

"Lol," muttered Cordelia. "How old _are_ you?"

"You're older than me!" I cried indignantly.

"Not from a language point of view, clearly," said Cordelia. "Stop trolling Mirany and leave us alone."

I didn't even want to know what 'trolling' meant.

"Angel, I had a dream and I really wanna talk to you about-"

"I don't care Mirany! I'm concentrating!" Angel snapped, moving his body as he moved in the game.

"Right. That's it," I muttered, finding the powerpoint. "Say goodbye to your precious game."

I pulled the plug from the wall, but Angel didn't stop playing. I waited a few seconds. Maybe there was backed-up electricity or something, but when he still didn't stop staring at the screen, clicking the mouse and tapping the arrow keys wildly I went back over to the computer.

The game was still playing. I didn't know how, and I didn't know why, but apparently, this game didn't need a steady flow of electricity in order to function. It was doing perfectly well on it's own.

"Angel, I just pulled your computer plug out and it's still working! Don't you think maybe that deserves a bit of attention?" I asked pointedly.

"I.D.K. You figure it out," Angel muttered.

I scowled.

"Angel, I just murdered twenty virgins in the street!"

Okay, I was just taking a wild swing now. Angel scoffed.

"Yeah right."

I grabbed the screen and tossed it against the wall. The monitor, thank the lord, shattered, and finally the game was gone.

"HEY!" Angel yelled angrily. "I WAS PLAYING THAT!"

"LISTEN TO ME, GOD DAMN IT!" I screamed. "THAT GAME IS NO NORMAL GAME! IT DOESN'T JUST GET PEOPLE INTERESTED, IT GETS PEOPLE ADDICTED ENOUGH TO STOP SLEEPING, EATING, FUNCTIONING! IF YOU PLAY THAT GAME, YOU STOP LIVING! HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE YOU HAD BLOOD, HUH?"

Angel looked affronted.

"I don't see how-"

"ANSWER THE QUESTION!"

"Two days, maybe. I.D.K."

"Stop speaking in acronyms Angel, I am NOT in the mood!" I snarled.

"Whatevs. Can I get back on my game now?" he asked sullenly.

I stared at him.

"Were you just listening to a word I said?" I asked.

"Dude, you were going off your head at me. Course not," said Angel.

"Angel-"

"Dude, you're acting like a wag. I just wanna play my game."

"What the hell is a wag?" I growled.

"If you don't know, I'm not gonna tell you. Deal with it," said Angel.

He shoved me aside roughly and disappeared into his office.

"Haha, rejected," said Wesley.

I glared at him and stalked out of the hotel, mounting my Harley and taking off angrily. The streets of LA were quieter than I'd ever seen them. Everyone seemed to be inside, playing that god damn game.

I pulled up beside my front door and hurried in.

"Brydan! You here?" I called into the intercom.

_"W.T.F. dude. I'm trying to play here. Stop distracting me."_

I didn't hang around to fight with him. He was using _my _beyond state-of-the-art technology to play a demonic RPG which I certainly wasn't happy about and really wanted to argue with him about, but I wasn't going to suffer through another round of acronyms. What do all these things stand for anyway?

I knew who to go to. She didn't even own a computer as far as I knew. My motorbike roared into life and I took off again, once again driving through the silent street of LA until I parked outside the apartment block and traversed to the penthouse at the top.

Sandelle's apartment was just as intoxicating as always, and she appeared the moment I walked in as always.

"Trouble?" she asked.

"Of the 'I'm about to kill everyone in the world' kind," I muttered. "You dodn't own a computer, do you?"

"No," said Sandelle curiously.

"Thank bloody god," I sighed, flopping onto the couch.

"Mirany, I have to ask you, what is it apart from your current problem that's troubling you?" asked Sandelle.

God damn psychics.

"Now's not the time," I said. "I need your help."

"Mirany, I'm a psychic, not a fighter," said Sandelle pointedly.

"I don't care. I am this close Sandelle," I said fervently, indictating wiht my thumb and forefinger just how close I was to losing my mind. "I want Angel and my sister and the rest of my friends back to normal. No more acronyms, no more computers, no more role playing games."

"Role playing games?" Sandelle repeated. "What on earth is a...?"

"It doesn't matter!" I snapped. "I pulled the computer out at the plug and Angel was still playing that game. It was still on the screen! What is it, and how do I kill it?"

"Calm down Mirany, there's no need to snap at me," said Sandelle, sitting down beside me and placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Why don't you tell me how this started and we'll go from there? And while you're at it, you can tell me about this dream that you're so worried about."

"Because I don't want to tell you how it started, I just want to finish it!" I said frustratedly. "And I'm not worried about my dream! I dream all the time! Why should I be worried about my more recent one?"

Sandelle was silent, staring at me with firm concentration. Warmth spread from the shoulder she was holding outwards and through my body and I felt immediately calmer. I took a deep breath.

"Alright. That man, the psychic, Aedus, he was in my dream. There was all this purple fire and I was tied up and Aedus wanted something. He wanted information or something. He...he walked through the fire. He hit me with his flames and I was on fire and..."

I shuddered.

"Then Lilah woke me up. She wanted me to come and see something. She was playing this game. She said she hadn't slept for two days. Hadn't even gotten to her feet. I went to Angel. I thought he'd be able to help me fix it, whatever it was, but even he was playing this game. The whole of LA seems to be playing it, except people without computers. Angel hasn't drunk anything in two days. And so I came here. I need your help."

Sandele nodded slowly.

"Okay then," she said. "It sounds like all this started two days ago. I think the easiest way to findout where this game came from is to look at it. You've seen the game a few times now and you appear to be immune, I don't know why, so I think if I try to get someone away from their computer long enough for you to find the source of the website, we might have a chance."

I snorted softly.

"You want to drag someone away from their computer long enough for me to hack into the game? Wow, you aim big."

"I'm open to other suggestions, but I don't think that making everyone amish would work as well," she said, smiling slightly as the idea crossed my mind.

"True," I muttered.

"As for your dream, when we're done with this, I think you and I should discuss it some more," she said.

I nodded silently.

"So, who do we target?" asked Sandelle.

I considered her.

"Actually, I do have a better idea. Why risk getting put under the thrall when we can get thralled people to do it for us?"

...

"I have called you all here because I have inside information on a top secret mission," I told the room.

Angel, Cordelia, Brydan, Connor, Wesley and Lilah were all sitting at one of the monitors in my beyond state-of-the-art computer lab.

"This mission will be difficult, and is not advertised in the game. Only those who already know about it can undertake it."

"What do we get for it?" asked Brydan.

"Yeah. Why would we do it if we don't get something?" asked Connor.

"I'll tell you what you get for it, if you complete it first," I said. "It is a race to the objective. Onl one person gets the reward, and trust me, you want the reward. So who wants to hear about this top secret mission?"

Everyone gave the affirmative. Sandelle looked worried as she watched each of them in turn. I knew she was reading into everyone's heads, and I could tell she wasn't liking what she found in them.

"Alright then. Everyone pause so that no one can cheat," I said.

They all did as I said, but they didn't take their eyes off the screen.

"You have to find three things; the creator of the game; the IP address of the system that created the game; and where that system is currently located. It will be difficult, but it is possible. So, on your marks, get set, go!"

They all acted at once, as though they'd practiced it previously. Sandelle pulled me aside.

"There's nothing in their heads," she said quietly. "Only stuff about this game. They don't care if they wither away and die of starvation and dehydration in front of this thing. They just want to win the game."

"We're not going to let that happen," I hissed back. "We're going to shut this game down first. Permanently."

You'd think with all the power in this room, that it wouldn't take them very long at all to find what we needed, but apparently you did need some knowledge of how to use the power as well. Where it would have taken me no more than five minutes, this lot were well into the twenties before Wesley of all people yelled with success.

"Found it!" he declared. "The creator is Markus Sampson and the system's IP is currently about ten blocks from here."

"Excellent," I muttered, copying down the IP and house address. "And your reward will be to get your life back. Congratulations!"

Wesley frowned, but Sandelle and I left before he could say anything about his apparently unsatisfying reward.

...

"Mirany, I feel I should point out to you again that I'm not a fighter," said Sandelle as I shoved an axe into her hand.

"Look, it's not hard to use. Just aim and swing," I said impatiently, staring up at the relatively normal looking house and figuring that the inside had to be full of tech.

There was no way you could design a game like this without an awful lot of computer power to keep it running, particularly if it could run without a computer having power.

"You don't even have to fight," I continued. "Just swing at the tech and I'll deal with the guy."

I shouldered my sword and kicked at the door. I was wrong on two counts. The only technology I could see was a laptop on a desk in a room straight off the hallway and there was more than one guy. In fact, they weren't even guys. Three, very burly, very green, very poisonous looking, and very angry demons stood in the hallway, glaring at us.

"Okay, you might have to fight," I amended.

Turns out, Sandelle didn't give herself enough credit. As the demons attacked, she was right in there with me, swinging away,hacking at anything that moved. Literally. I almost got chopped in half a couple of times. But at least she was fighting. I could look after myself. By the time we were done, which wasn't very long thanks to Sandelle's fierceness, there was one left, and he was pretty severely injured, but I need one alive.

"Shut it down," I growled.

"Not on my life," he hissed.

"It is on your life," I snarled. "Shut it down or I shut you down!"

The demon glared at me but dragged himself over to the computer all the same.

"The spell as well. All of it."

The demon growled his displeasure at that order, but he knew better than to disobey. The laptop sparked and the smell of burning plastic reached my nostrils as the computer shut down permanently.

"Now, you leave," the demon growled.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Just one more thing though..."

I rammed the sword through him to the hilt.

"Nobody messes with Angel or Lilah like that and gets off scott free," I told him before drawing the sword out and walking away.

Sandelle stared at me as I passed, her mouth open in a worried sort of 'o' shape. I didn't ask. I didn't want to know what she could see going on in my head right now.

...

"Mirany, I said I'm sorry. How many more times do I have to say it?" asked Angel.

"I.D.K. I ceebs listening to you," I said, glaring at him.

Angel looked at me blankly.

"What?"

I smirked.

"At least your vocabulary's back to normal," I muttered.

"Please tell me you're not mad at me any more," he said desperately, giving me the best puppy dog expression I'd ever seen. No one could stay made at that face.

"I'm not mad at you any more. I just hope that next time you get addicted to a demon-run role playing game, you won't use those god damn abbreviations."

"So...how did you figure out what to do?" Angel asked. "If I recall, you were losing your mind."

"I got you all to be my pawns," I said somewhat truthfully.

"You had no help?"

"None," I said warningly, knowing that he was going to keep pushing this now.

Angel frowned at me as he sat down beside me.

"You know, you are allowed to tell me. I seriously doubt that it'll be the end of the world if you tell me."

"I doubt your doubt," I said shortly.

"Was it the same person you keep going to see but won't tell me who it is?" Angel asked.

"That's really none of your business," I told him. "What is your business is figuring out how to stop psychic dude so that he can't set me on fire."

"Well, since you're so smart under pressure, why don't you?"

I frowned.

"Because you value your life," I said pointedly.

Angel considered me.

"Fairly good reason," he said. "I'll think about it. We haven't heard anything from him since that night so I don't think it's an immediate danger."

"No, but when it does become an immediate danger, I'd rather not face the PTB's predictions," I said.

Angel kissed my forehead softly.

"Don't worry Mirany. We'll stop it. We always do."

"Actually, that's entirely not true," I pointed out. "We never actually stop it from happening, we just change it slightly more in our favour. That doesn't mean it won't happen, i just means that I might happen to have a knife in my hand to cut through the ropes."

Angel kissed my lips now.

"Relax," he said. "The time for worrying is later. The time for me making up to you for being such a bastard is now."

...

Sandelle placed her hand to my forehead.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "Yes. You might see something I've missed."

Sandelle sighed and closed her eyes. It wasn't so much pain that spread across my forehead, more just a tight, uncomfortable feeling. Sandelle was certainly better at going through my thoughts and memories than Angel was. I didn't get shaky and weak as she found my memory of the dream and I didn't relive everything she saw either. After a minute or so, she opened her eyes again and took her hand away from my forehead. The tightness abated.

"Well?" I asked.

Sandelle didn't say anything for a while. Finally...

"Do you treat all the demons you fight against with that sort of contempt and malice?" she asked.

I blinked, completely thrown.

"I...what has that got to do with my-"

"Answer my question Mirany," Sandelle cut over me. "You made a demon suffer through terrible pain, thinking that you'd leave him be if he did what you told him to, then you ran him through with a sword and it didn't seem to affect you at all. I'm sure you can see that my worry is not baseless."

"I already have Angel as my psychologist," I told her. "I don't need you to start analysing me as well."

"Mirany, you gave me access to your thoughts. I would hope that you would realise what that could entail. Your mind is a mess, just to let you know, and would you please answer my question now?"

"I suppose," I said. "They're demons. They're evil. Why should it affect me if I kill one? I'm the Slayer. That's my job."

"Your job is to protect humans from forces of evil. That doesn't necessarily mean killing all the demons you find. Killing should be a last resort. You didn't need to kill that demon back there. And not all demons are evil. This world is more than just black and white Mirany."

"Shades of grey. I know," I muttered resentfully. "Look, can we please focus on the dream here? Angel does the 'making my hear five times larger' thing. I just want to know if there's anything in my dream that could be useful to me."

Sandelle sighed.

"The whole thing is useful," she said. "For one, Aedus isn't a fan of the magical flame. He prefers good, old fashioned fire. The fact that he's using magical flame suggests that he feels vulnerable. Feels the need to make sure that no one can get to him. That he needs something from you gives you a leg up on him as well. He might not be able to get it any other way, depending on what it is. And there was a boy. You probably didn't notice him. I only saw him for a moment. But it was the boy in your house."

"Connor?" I asked.

"No, the other one," said Sandelle.

"Brydan?" I asked disbelievingly.

"Yes," said Sandelle. "Brydan. He was there. He was behind Aedus. Only for a moment though. Then he disappeared again. That boy has power Mirany."

"Yeah, I know. He's a telepath," I said.

"More power than your average telepath has," said Sandelle. "I don't think Brydan's letting on quite as much as he knows about himself to you. But don't worry about that. I'm sure you'll find out all you need to know about Brydan sooner or later. Mirany, I really think we should discuss-"

"I have to go," I said abruptly. "Thanks for the insight."

I left before she could stop me. I didn't want to hear that I was becoming a heartless killer again.

"So Miss I Don't Believe In Psychics comes to the psychic for help huh?" asked Angel, who was leaning against my car.

"Okay, how'd you know?" I asked resignedly.

"Followed you," said Angel casually. "I'm sorry. I'm a curious kinda guy. What'd she say?"

"She said that Brydan's more than just a telepath," I said simply, climbing into my car. Angel clambered into the passenger seat.

"But you knew that already, didn't you?" he asked.

I stared at him.

"What? No. Did you?"

"Well, yeah," he said. "Mirany, what he did to that shapeshifter back then isn't possible for a telepath to do. It's a 'peaceful' power, you might say. I don't know exactly what Brydan is, whether he's a psychic or otherwise, but he's not just a telepath."

"Why didn't you tell me this?" I asked indignantly. "A little more of the down low might be nice every now and then."

"I thought you knew," said Angel, shrugging. "Guess I was wrong."

"So if Brydan is a psychic...do you think we could make him strong enough to fight?"

Angel stared out the windscreen.

"I think he's strong enough already. I just don't think he knows it."


	41. Love and Loss

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**When I started writing this I was listening to Superman (the song, not the movie) and I realised that it actually suited this chapter extremely well, so I decided to use a verse and chorus from it rather than a quote from a famous person or tv show this time. I hope you think it suits as well.**

**So, good reader, read on.**

* * *

**_"I wish that I could cry, fall upon my knees. Find a way to lie about a home I'll never see. It say sound absurd but don't be naive, even heroes have the right to bleed. I may be disturbed but won't you concede, even heroes have the right to dream. And it's not easy to be me." - Superman (Five for Fighting)_**

* * *

**MIRANY**

"Mirany! Get geared up! We've got a solid hit on Aedus!"

I turned away from the screen to look at Angel with wide eyes.

"Really?" I asked. "And you're sure we're ready for this?"

"Of course you're not ready for it. This is the most powerful psychic this city knows for heaven's sake!" said Lilah.

I glared at the screen.

"Wait your turn!"

Lilah rolled her eyes but didn't continue.

"We're ready," said Angel firmly. "Go and get your stuff. Don't forget that necklace. It might come in handy again."

"Okay, but if he starts throwing people around the room, I'm leaving," I said.

"I'm coming," said Lilah.

Angel and I both stared at her.

"What?" I asked.

"I'm coming with you. You'll need all hands on deck and personally, if anyone's going to kill you, it's going to be me."

"Oh thank you Lilah, now I feel so much better," I said sarcastically. "You're not coming."

"Do you honestly believe that you can stop me?" asked Lilah pointedly.

"Lilah if you get hurt..." I started.

"I won't," said Lilah confidently. "Unlike you, I think before I act."

I bit back the retort I longed to throw at her. I really, really wanted to keep arguing, but Lilah was set. The chances of her changing her mind now were next to none. I looked to Angel for help but he shook his head.

_She's made up her mind Mirany. Not much you could say that'd make her change it._

I sighed.

"Fine," I said. "But you don't fight unless you have to."

Lilah looked a little too happy about that.

...

Lilah was right about us needing all hands on deck. Angel had even made Brydan come along.

"I still don't know why I'm here. What good can I possibly do?" he muttered.

"Didn't you know? You're the bait," I told him.

"You're not the bait," said Angel. "You've witnessed what you can do, so have I. If we get in a really tight spot, maybe you could try to harness some of that power when you're not quite as angry as you were. And even if you can't, you know how to throw a punch just as well as any of us."

Brydan frowned and muttered something about having better things to do.

"What's the plan?" asked Wesley.

"Mirany, Connor and I will go in, scope the place out," said Angel. "If we don't come out in five minutes, you come in. If you hear yelling and fighting before then, come in. We don't want to take any chances. We need as much of a number advantage as we can manage."

"And if he's waiting for you?" asked Cordelia.

"We'll make sure you know if he's waiting for us," I said. "Another reason Brydan's here. Just in case you can't hear us, we should be able to communicate with him."

"Everyone clear?" Angel asked.

We all nodded or muttered in confirmation.

"Alright then."

Angel lead Connor and I forwards around the edge of the building. It was some sort of hall, the sort of thing you might rent out for a large birthday or a small gig. There was only one entrance, so at least we had them trappeed inside, well, those of them that couldn't disappear into thin air. I couldn't help but feel somewhat scared. The last time I met this guy I ended up with basically every bone in my body broken in some way. I didn't need a repeat of that experience, nor to live through the actual happening of my nightmares. This guy was evil. Seriously evil. And I really, really wished, for the first time, that I didn't have to go anywhere near him. I just wanted to completely forget that he ever existed.

_Jeez Mirany, wanna turn down the nerves a notch?_

_Sorry I just...he's bad news Angel._

_I know. I'm pretty apprehensive myself. But we're getting an emotional bond now and I can't have your fear about this influencing me right now. Just focus Mirany. You're on a job. You need to distance yourself more._

_Right._

Distancing is not as easy as it sounds when the guy you're about to face only didn't kill you last time because he wasn't finished playing with you. And yes, the blood bond between me and Angel was getting stronger, probably because I was drinking more often, in larger quantities. I know. Ew.

Angel stopped by the double doors leading to the reception room and then on to the main hall. He gestured Connor for Connor to move to the other side and stay, and I took his place as he moved to the opposite door.

_Ready?_

I nodded. Angel squeezed my shoulder briefly.

_Let's go._

We slipped through the doors swiftly and silently, Connor keeping look out. We were both poised for action, our weapons just waiting for us to spot the slightest sign of life. But the reception area was eerily empty. The room was dark and cold and we had to be careful not to make a sound as we found the door leading into the hall. I could hear soft voices from inside and judging from Angel's stiffness, so could he.

_Are we making an entrance?_

Angel considered me.

_Let's make it count. Brydan, move round to the doors. Tell Connor one minute._

_Will do._

We looked at each other and Angel nodded. We reared back and kicked at the wooden doors. The force of the kicks combined was enough to send the door right off their hinges, smashing on the ground a distance away. The hall was lit by a few small lightbulbs and I counted eight of them before they'd reacted. Aedus was not amoung them.

_Uh...wasn't he supposed to be here?_

_I doubt he didn't know we were coming. He's probably waiting for the right time._

The men had recovered from the shock of our entrance now, and they weren't very happy. Some of them had staffs, some of them had knives, all of them had scales. Makes it a lot harder to slash them, let me tell you. My sword couldn't penetrate the scaly exterior unless I was driving it right through them. I found that out as four of them bore down on me. After getting far too frustrated that my attempts to sever limbs weren't working, I went in for a good ol' stab and I finally landed a fatal blow, after, of course, taking a few hits myself. My back burned where I'd been hit repeatedly with the end of a staff, and my sword arm was bleeding where one of them had slashed me with his knife.

Angel wasn't doing much better. He seemed to have figured out the stabbing thing a lot quicker than I had, but the demons he was facing were either faster or smarter or both, and they were avoiding the sword he was brandishing, going in when he did, deflecting the blade and landing their own blow.

But the odds just got evened. The rest of the team decided to grace us with their presence and suddenly we were much better matched. Angel and Connor worked together to fend off three of the four Angel had been facing, Wesley, Brydan and Cordelia danced around the other, trying to confuse it before they endangered themselves further, and Lilah and I ended up back to back against my three.

"Wasn't there supposed to be a dangerous psychic here?" asked Lilah, stabbing at one of the demons when it got a little close for comfort.

"I believe he's waiting to make his entrance in style," I told her, noticing that she had a gun tucked into her belt as back up. "That won't do much good."

"It'll work against Aedus," said Lilah. "There are six bullets with his name on them. He's not just an nuisance to you."

"Oh really?" I asked, catching a demon off guard and shoving my sword through it's stomach.

"For some reason he doesn't like Wolfram and Hart. You're not the only one who's refused us."

"At least he has some standards," I remarked, swinging my sword so that the demon that was still on the blade was flung into another, sending it toppling under his dead weight. "Not a complete bastard then."

I could feel Lilah's glare in the back of my head, but I didn't have a chance to turn to look at her. One of the demons that Connor and Angel had been fighting launched itself at me and I was pinned underneath it, trying to reach for my sword, which had dropped a few inches away, while fending off the demon's knife.

That, of course, was when Aedus decided to make his appearance. And what an appearance it was. One of the few I would never, ever forget. I saw him appear, and I saw what he was holding, but I didn't even have time to yell a warning before it was too late.

"NO!" I screamed as Lilah felt the knife through her back and crumpled.

I found a strength I never knew I had in that moment. I threw the demon off me like nothing could be easier and clambered to my feet, stumbling as I ran to my sister. Aedus was backing slowly away, looking smug. There was a ringing in my ears. I couldn't think straight. I could hear Angel yelling something but I didn't care. I didn't even realise the gun was in my hands until after I fired it. I shot the whole chamber...and the whole chamber missed. Aedus was gone.

I tossed the gun and grabbed Lilah's shoulders, lifting her head into my lap, holding onto her with everything I had. She wasn't going to die. She couldn't. She was alive, but barely.

"Lily. Oh my god. Lily, no."

"Mirany, let me go," Lilah whispered.

"No," I muttered, shaking my head, my vision blurred by the tears. "No Lilah please. You have to hold on. You have to stay with me."

"Mirany, listen to me," Lilah said weakly. "You let me go. You let me go and you kill that son-of-a-bitch."

"I'm not...I won't...you can't leave me Lily. I..."

"Shh," Lilah whispered, lifting her hand shakily and laying it on my cheek. "Be brave Mirany. Let go."

Her hand slipped and I stared in horror as the life faded completely from my sister's eyes.

"MIRANY! LOOK OUT!"

I didn't turn around. My hand moved without my knowing. I grabbed hold of whatever demon's wrist was about to drive a knife through me and I twisted, breaking the bone without effort. I snatched the knife from the air as it fell and I threw it. From the thump of the demon hitting the floor, I'd made my mark.

Lilah's head still rested in my lap and I wrapped myself around her, hugging her body tightly, crying, her blood covering my arms and hands.

...

**ANGEL**

When Lilah fell, I don't think Mirany even realised what she was doing. It had been like she was moving in a dream, everything automatic. Aedus had backed up, looking far too pleased with himself, and when Mirany pulled the gun from Lilah's belt, he remained right until she shot off ten rounds, emptying the magazine. One thing I knew was that she was going to wipe that smirk right off his face one day.

It was more than clear that he'd appeared then and done this for a reason, probably to completely throw us all. Lilah was a loss. A big one.

Mirany had forgotten that we were still fighting against the remaining demons.

"MIRANY! GET UP! MIRANY!"

She either didn't hear me or didn't care. She held onto Lilah with everything she had, like she was holding her very life. I left Connor with one of the few demons that hadn't decided to target Mirany and held them off her. One was unconscious from Mirany throwing it across the room when she'd seen what Aedus had done, and between Connor, Mirany and I we'd slain three more. Cordy, Wes and Brydan were trying to land the finishing blow on one, Connor was with the one I'd left, and I was left with the two after Mirany.

I ran one through and kicked out at the other, pushing it back, away from the sisters. I could feel Mirany's emotions taking over my own. Anger and grief were coarsing through me, almost forcing me to my knees. The flood of emotions was beyond anything I had ever felt before. It was something more than just anger or grief. Something terrifying. A vengeance I'd never experienced. And if I was only experiencing part of what Mirany was...I was beyond glad that I wasn't on Mirany's bad side right now.

I didn't notice the once unconscious demon going for Mirany until the last second.

"MIRANY! LOOK OUT!"

Mirany's hand whipped up to meet the demon's. She wasn't even looking, and despite the scales, she snapped the demon's wrist like it was a twig. Catching the knife before it fell, Mirany threw it and it landed, straight and true, right in the demon's chest.

Wesley landed the final blow on the demon the three of them had been fighting, and Connor, who'd already dealt with his, ended the one I was fighting from behind. They were all gone, but it didn't feel like a victory, and no one looked like we'd accomplished something. Mirany was curled up around her dead sister. I knelt down beside her, fighting back tears of my own, and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Mirany," I said softly. "Let go. She's gone."

I tried to pull her away gently but she pushed me away.

"No! No. I won't...I won't leave her!"

I saw Cordelia bury her head in Wesley's shoulder, who had silent tears running down his face. I didn't know if they were crying for Lilah or whether they were crying for Mirany. Brydan and Connor stood beside each other, neither saying a word.

"Mirany, there's nothing you can do. Mirany please, Lilah wouldn't want this. Let go."

Mirany looked up at me, her face tear streaked and her eyes red and puffy.

"Why?" she whispered. "Why?"

I couldn't answer. I didn't know how.

...

**CONNOR**

Mirany didn't want dad taking her home, so, despite dad's objections, Brydan was put on Mirany duty. Somehow, I think he failed.

The girl was sitting on the side of the bridge, rocking backwards and forwards gently, looking like she was stalling herself. When I pulled over, I didn't expect it to be who it was.

"Mirany?"

She stiffened, looking poised to push herself off the edge.

"What the hell are you doing? Get down from there!"

Mirany didn't move. She was shaking and when I got closer to her she tensed even more. Her face was glistening with tears and she looked like she had finally lost everything.

"Leave me alone," she whispered.

"I can't do that Mirany," I said, leaning against the bridge railing beside her. "I won't leave you."

"Please Connor!"

"Mirany, you're about to end your life a good 60 years premature. Come down. Please. Talk to me."

Mirany snorted softly.

"Why would you want to talk to me? I'm the reason your bimbo of a girlfriend wants you to see a counsellor. We were engaged. Sure, for about two seconds, but we were, and I broke it off. Why would you ever want to talk to me again?"

"I don't hate you Mirany," I told her. "And I don't want you to die like this. Why are you doing this?"

Mirany looked away from me.

"My whole family's gone now. Everyone. And it's my fault. I should have stopped her. I should have argued longer. But I didn't. And now she's dead too."

"Mirany, you couldn't have stopped it. He targeted her. Even if she hadn't come he probably would have gotten to her. It's not your fault. Come on. Come down."

Mirany shook her head.

"No."

"Mirany, do you think this is what Lilah or any of your family would want? Do you honestly believe that they would want you to kill yourself?"

"I'll never know what any of hem would want BECAUSE THEY'RE ALL GONE!" Mirany yelled at me.

She was edging herself away from me and closer to the edge, so she was only just balancing on the railing.

"Mirany, please. Don't do this. Come down. Talk to me."

Mirany ignored me, just sitting there, perilously close to the edge. I took matters into my own hands. I wasn't just going to stand there and watch her jump off. In a movement not swift enough for her not to notice, but swift enough that she couldn't do anything, I grabbed her around the middle and pulled her down. She was not happy.

"NO! LET ME GO! CONNOR! LET ME GO!"

She twisted around in my arms, slapping my head and chest hard and angrily. But with every hit she got weaker, eventually just curling her fingers into my shirt, and her yelling became quieter, turning into sobs as she buried her head in my chest.

"Shh. It's gonna be okay Mirany. I promise. It's gonna be okay."

...

**CORDELIA**

When Connor got back to the hotel and told us the news, I was surprised Angel even made it to the couch. I never thought I'd see him the way I did at that moment. He sat there, face in his hands, and he broke down. He completely broke down.

Evidently, I wasn't the only one that had never seen him like that before. Wesley, Connor and I all looked from him to one another, at a complete loss of what to do. What could we say? We'd never seen him like this before. How exactly were we supposed to cheer up the vampire with 200 years baggage weighing him down as well?

Me being the woman, and therefore the only smart one in the room, I took the initiative to go and talk to the one person who not only put Angel in his position, but could be the only person who could take him out, leaving Connor and Wesley to at least be there as moral support until I got back.

Mirany looked terrible when she opened the door. She was probably feeling a mixture of both her and Angel's emotions, culminating in one extremely distraught teenager.

"What?" she snapped.

"Can we talk? Woman to...well, woman I suppose."

Mirany looked like she was seriously considering slamming the door in my face, but eventually she stepped aside and I entered.

"I guess you know then," she said quietly.

"We all do," I told her.

"Well, I don't need you talking to me about my feelings as well. I've had enough of people talking to me about my feelings," Mirany growled.

"I understand," I said. "And that's not why I'm here. Not exactly."

Mirany was silent as I gestured for her to sit down. She sat and I sat beside her.

"I can't imagine what you were feeling," I said, "but I understand why you would do what you were going to. But you should have thought first Mirany. Just because your blood relatives are gone doesn't mean your family is."

Mirany looked confused.

"Your actions have consequences," I explained. "There are still people you know who care about you and who love you. And if you had killed yourself, imagine how Angel and Connor would have felt."

"Connor doesn't-"

"He does Mirany. He just doesn't show it," I informed her.

Mirany fell silent again, staring at her knees.

"I've seen some scary things here," I said. "Some really scary things. Things I wish I had never seen. Things I couldn't have dreamt up in my worst nightmares. But you know what tops all the vampires and the demons and the monsters? Angel. The protector of the innocent. The bravest person I know. A hero. Breaking down."

Mirany looked up at me, tears sparkling in her eyes.

"What?" she whispered. "No I...why would he...?"

"When Connor came back and told us what had happened, Angel finally broke Mirany. God, he loves you at least as much as he loves Connor. He couldn't handle the news that you were miserable enough to almost end your life. Not on top of everything else as well. Mirany, he's broken down, and you're the only person I can think of that can help him right now. He helped you when you were lost, it's time to repay the favor."

...

**MIRANY**

Hearing what I had put Angel through shocked me more than I could ever have imagined. For Angel to break down like that...a man I knew so well for his cool, collected way of controlling his emotions...it was sort of flattering in a morbid kind of way.

Angel was in his office when I got there, sitting with his back against the wall of the floor, arms folded on his knees and head resting in the hollow, shaking. This was probably why I was feeling just the little bit more horrible.

I sat down beside him, but I honestly had no idea what to say. I didn't need to. Turns out he had to things to say for himself.

"Why would you do that?" he asked huskily. "Why would you even consider...?"

His sentence fell short.

"She was it Angel. She was the last person in my family. I...I didn't know what to do."

"So you decided that jumping off a bridge would solve the problem?" Angel snapped, glaring up at me.

I recoiled. His eyes were red and bloodshot. He'd been crying.

"I-"

"You didn't think for one second that talking to someone might help? It didn't have to be me Mirany!"

He was suddenly angry as all hell, which didn't really help because of course, I was suddenly angry as well.

"Who was I going to talk to? I didn't want to talk to you, Connor's been a bastard the past few months, Cordelia and Wesley are about as far down my talking to list as a slug and talking to Sandelle just ends up in a discussion about my complete lack of compassion!" I snarled.

Angel closed his eyes and took a shaking breath, calming himself down a lot more effectively than it would have done me. I calmed slightly, but my own rage had kicked in now. My rage didn't seem to affect Angel, as though he was so used to it he had built up some sort of immunity to it.

"You...you took the coward's way out Mirany," he said quietly. "And I know how hard it is to be brave all the time, I do, but Mirany, if there was ever a time to be brave...I'm not asking for you not to be sad about Lilah's death. I just want to know that you're not going to do anything stupid. Not without talking to someone. Anyone."

He brushed my cheek softly and I nuzzled into his hand.

"I could have lost you today. I could have lost one of the few things that matters in my life. Thinking that if Connor hadn't seen you when he did...I might never have seen you again. Never told you one last time how much I care about you. How much you've grown. How much I love you."

Tears were glistening in the corners of his eyes.

"It kills me to think that you were out there, alone, blaming yourself for a tragedy that wasn't your fault again. The last time you did that was bad enough...this time was even worse. Don't blame yourself for her death Mirany. She chose to do this, and in all honestly, I think she knew what was coming. Why else would she actually want to come fighting? She's never done that before. I think she wanted to do something good before she left. I think she wanted to be with you."

I was choked up and fighting back tears for the um-teenth time today. I huddled in close to him, resting my head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "But it just...it hurts so much. Why does it hurt?"

Angel ran his fingers gently through my hair.

"It's love's curse."

* * *

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**So...I hope you found this as...tear-jerking reading this as I did writing it. Don't forget to review. I always love to know what you think.**


	42. Risky Business

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**The start of this chapter is set one week after the last one, then it will jump forwards another week. Don't worry, I'll tell you when.**

**Enjoy and don't forget to review :) This is slightly away from my usual style, but hopefully you'll still enjoy reading it.**

* * *

_**"Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers the o'er-fraught heart and bids it break." - William Shakespeare**_

* * *

**ANGEL**

I hadn't realised that when Mirany insisted on a funeral, she hadn't planned on showing up, but she was absent from the graveyard the entire service. It wasn't until long after everyone else had dispersed and I was doing a quick sweep of the graveyard that she made an appearance.

I almost didn't notice that she was there. She was sitting in the shadows of a tree beside the grave, almost invisible unless you were looking for her.

"Didn't want anyone to see the tears?" I asked her.

She looked up at me, surprised.

"Angel! I thought everyone was gone," she said.

"I'm here in a strictly business way now," I told her as I sat down beside her. "Why weren't you here?"

"Lost track of time," said Mirany absently, staring at the grave.

It was such a bad lie that a three year old could have picked it, but I didn't want to press. Not yet anyway.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"I'm fine," said Mirany quickly. "Just been a pretty hectic week, you know?"

"Yeah, particularly with all the patrolling you've been doing. I know I keep reminding you to catch up on your slaying duties but you didn't have to start this week."

"Well, demons aren't gonna slay themselves," Mirany muttered, still staring at Lilah's resting place.

"Going to say a few words?" I asked.

"What's there to say? Lilah never really liked the heart-felt speaches anyway."

She got to her feet abruptly.

"I'm gonna go...kill things. Coming with?"

...

**ONE WEEK LATER**

"Where've you been?" I asked as Mirany finally walked in. "I called you nearly three hours ago. It's two in the morning now."

"It just so happens that I was on my way when I ran into a gang of vamps," said Mirany, flopping onto the couch.

"Well, that explains the black eye, general bruising and gashes," Connor commented.

"No. The gang was a pushover. I got these from the Morrow demon that I caught trying to steal the puppies from the pet store."

"You're not serious right?" asked Wesley. "don't you need a knife that's taken the lives of seven witches to kill those?"

"Yes," Mirany hissed. "So I had to go around LA looking for a store that had one of those."

"Morrow demons...are they one of the ones with venomous claws?" asked Cordelia.

"Yes," Mirany sighed. "Of course, nobody sells dragon spit on the shelves anymore so I had to bully an amatuer wizard contact of mine into spelling the venom away. After that, I finally made my way here, dusting any vamps along the way."

"Mirany..." I started.

"Angel, lecture her on your own time," said Cordelia firmly. "I'm tired. I wanna go home. The only reason I'm still here is because you said this was one to bring in the money. And I like money."

"If you wanted money, you didn't have to wait for me," Mirany muttered. "Just ask me to pull out my cheque book and I'll give you enough money that Angel can pay you in a million years."

"As Cordelia insinuated," I said loudly, cutting in before Cordelia could swoop on Mirany, "we have a case. A man named Tom Sudbury called. He said his brother was taken by demons, said he'd bring in a photo of them from security cameras around nine-ish. Said he would pay a lot."

"Let's take it," said Cordelia at once.

"Are they asking for anything yet?" asked Connor.

"I don't think they will. Demons don't generally ask for ransom," I said. "I don't think it's a stretch to say she's already dead."

"Well aren't you cheery?" Mirany muttered. "Why couldn't this have waited until morning?"

"It is morning," Wesley pointed out.

"It wasn't when he called," Mirany growled.

"Because Brydan happened to let slip that he was going to get you off your head drunk tonight and I thought this would be a good way to prevent that," I said.

"Well, I've had four beers tonight already so you be the judge," said Mirany, smirking.

"Oh good, so you were fighting vampires and demons drunk. Just super," I said sarcastically.

Cordelia snorted.

"Mirany, you really should be more careful," said Wesley. "you being drunk could be the difference between being alive or dead."

"Save the lecture Four Eyes. Ain't gonna change much," Mirany snapped.

"I think this is my cue to leave," said Cordelia, getting to her feet quickly. "See ya."

"Yeah, I'm with her. Night," said Connor, hurrying up the stairs.

Mirany was glaring at Wesley, silently daring him to continue repremanding her. He didn't.

"Alright, I'm going," he sighed.

Mirany looked pleased with herself as he walked out of the lobby and looked at me expectantly.

"You're not getting rid of me," I informed her.

"We'll see," she said, examining her nails carelessly.

"Mirany, don't get me wrong. I'm glad you're taking the time to address your slaying duties," I said, sitting down beside her, "but I have to admit it's somewhat...worrying, the amount of addressing you're doing."

"Angel..." started Mirany warningly.

"And I know it's been hard for you since Lilah...I just don't want you to focus completely on the job. That's the reason why we met after all."

"Angel, I'm fine," said Mirany shortly, getting up and helping herself to the liquor cabinet. "You don't need to worry about me."

I watched her sceptically as she filled a glass right to the top with scotch.

"Yes, you're very good at pushing your emotions down so that you appear fine until they're so bottled up that they have to be released in the form of killing people, but you're not fine otherwise you wouldn't be sculling a tall glass full of 60 year old scotch," I pointed out.

Mirany glanced at the bottle and shrugged.

"So?"

I stared at her incredulously.

"_So? _So? So, you don't notice a pattern at all?" I asked. "Sorta like the one you had going a few years back?"

Mirany stared at her feet.

"I just miss her," she whispered.

"We all do," I told her. "But this isn't a good way to deal. You have to try and live normally."

"Live normally?" Mirany chuckled, without an ounce of humour. "I have no one left Angel. No more family."

"Family isn't just who you're related to Mirany. It's people who love you. Who'll love you no matter what. Your friends are your family. And I know you're trying to do the right thing by fighting everything and anything you can, but this isn't quite the right road to take."

"Yeah, well, the PTBs lead along the least travelled road Angel, NOW I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE HELL I AM! AND EVERYONE WHO COULD HAVE TOLD ME IS GONE NOW!"

"I'm not," I said. "Just because I'm not your blood relative doesn't mean I can't help you through this."

Mirany fell silent.

"Mirany, you need to know that I'm here for you. That you don't have to bury all your feelings," I said, getting to my feet and brushing her fringe out of her eyes. "You're not alone in this."

Mirany looked up at me.

"I...I know," she said quietly. "But you don't know what might happen. What if we were driven apart? What good what it have come to?"

"Mirany, unfortunately, no matter how far apart we're driven, you are always going to need me now," I pointed out. "So I will always, always, be here for you. And I will try my utmost to make sure that we aren't driven apart."

Mirany stared at her feet.

"You don't have to talk about it now if you don't want to," I said. "But when you do, all you have to do is call. But please, please, do take it out on every monster you find. At least, not without someone else with you."

Mirany nodded.

"Okay."

...

Tom Sudbury would have been normal if he wasn't so...creepy. He was a normal, twenty-ish man, short brown hair, neat but slightly worn business suit, and a solid but not particularly muscular body. But it was his eyes that had both me and Mirany cringing slightly. They were light grey and they would have been alright if it wasn't for the way he wouldn't take them off Mirany. He had an almost stalkerish sort of stare which was making Mirany very, uncomfortable.

"So, these are the demons that took your brother?" I asked, looking at the picture of the white demons. They were human shaped, but were pure white and had bright blue eyes with no pupils, and very, very long claws. "Tarrow demons?"

"I...I don't know what they're called," said Sudbury, still staring at Mirany. "I came home and there was this note."

He gave me the note, which was written in neat handwritting.

"It's his hand writing. I can't imagine going through life without my brother Detective Angel. Please, you have to find them."

Mirany and I both glanced over the note.

"This isn't a ransom note," I commented. "Why would they tell you where they've taken him?"

"I don't know! Maybe it's a trap for me! Maybe they want me too! I don't know!" said Sudbury worriedly. "Please."

"Uh, yes, of course, we'll get him back for you," I said. "If you just leave your number and address with us, we'll contact you as soon as we find anything."

"Thank you," said Sudbury, writing down what I had requested, but once he'd finished, he didn't move. He was still watching Mirany.

"Yes, Mr Sudbury?" asked Mirany, annoyed.

"Sorry," he muttered. "I just couldn't help but notice that you're very beautiful."

"Thank you," said Mirany coolly. "You may go now. We've got this covered."

Sudbury got up abruptly.

"Of course," he said. "Someone with your talents should be able to get this done within minutes. It must be such a trivial case for you, but do hope you'll treat it like any other and find my brother. He means so much to me."

As Mirany absorbed what he'd said, Sudbuy left without another word.

"Creepy," Mirany muttered.

"Very," I agreed, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and pulling her in, almost protectively. Sudbury wasn't here any more, but that didn't meant I wasn't rattled. "I'm not all too convinced about this note though. It's almost too easy."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," said Mirany. "We should investigate this a bit first. You know, actually do your job, Detective Angel. You know, I've never heard anyone call you that."

"Probably because I don't actually have a license," I pointed out. "Alright, where do we start?"

Mirany tapped the security photo.

"Scene of the crime," she said. "Sudbury lives alone...now, and he's got work, so no one's there to stop us."

...

"I don't know about you, but this guy doesn't really give off any 'I'm in debt with demons so they'll probably hurt me and family' vibes," said Mirany, flicking through a small stack of photographs.

"Well, there's got to be some reason why they took his brother," I said, running a finger along the spines of the guy's books. "And why they left him with the address. It couldn't scream trap any louder if it tried."

Mirany stared around the apartment, frowning slightly.

"What?" I asked.

"Look around. Anything strike you as odd?" she asked.

I glanced around the apartment.

"No," I said. "The place looks normal to me."

"You know, between you, Connor and Brydan, all very different people, there's one thing you all have in common," said Mirany. "You're all slobs. The idea of cleaning anything other than yourselves makes you cringe. And both Connor and Brydan are about the same age as these guys, and you would be too if we just went off looks. Look around. The place is spotless. No dishes in the sink, not a speck of dust, nothing on the floor. A guy was kidnapped here. You'd think that there would be some signs of a struggle. It's not as though you'd just let demons like that sit down and have a drink with you. There's nothing here that says anything happened."

"Well, this is the address that Sudbury gave us. This is where they live."

"I wouldn't bet on it," said Mirany. "Another thing, didn't Sudbury say that he could pay whatever the price? If he had money enough for that, why would they be living in an apartment just big enough for a dog? Two guys? Please. This place couldn't fit one five year old."

"So, what you're getting at is that he gave us a phony address?" I asked.

"Not only that, but I reckon he set it up," said Mirany.

"Mirany, that's ridiculous. There's got to be a perfectly normal reason as to why he can pay us a bundle but live in an apartment like this. Maybe he just doesn't mind getting himself into a lot of debt for his brother."

Mirany shrugged.

"Just an observation."

"There's nothing here," I said. "We've been here for nearly three hours. We're not gonna find anything."

"Because it was all planted," Mirany muttered.

"Mirany, there's plausable, and then there's insane. For a guy to make all this up is insane."

Mirany scowled.

"Fine, then let's go."

...

"I think we should just go to that address," said Mirany.

"This is coming from the girl that thinks this is all just one big set up," I said.

"Well, do you have a better idea?" Mirany asked. "Hate to break it to you, but it looks like we're out of options."

She was right of course. There was nothing left for me to do but follow the breadcrumbs and see where they lead.

"Alright, we'll go tonight. Tarrow demons don't function well in darkness."

"Well, that won't matter because they won't be there. Sudbury will be there. I don't know why yet, but he'll be the one to greet us."

"Yeah, whatever you say," I said, smirking.

Mirany scowled.

"Fine, but when the Tarrow demon's aren't there and he is, don't say I didn't tell you," she said.

"I won't have to, because he won't be there my little conspiracy theorist," I said, ruffling her hair and kissing her forehead. "Come on. I wanna show you something."

...

"What is this?" asked Mirany, turning the book over in her hands.

"It's...your dad's," I said. "I figure you need it now more than ever."

Mirany undid the clasp on the diary and turned through the first few pages. The book was so old now and hadn't been opened in such a long time that the pages were stiff, like sheets of steel rather than paper.

"When did he...?"

"He gave it to me when you first got here. He said he wrote this when he was about your age now. His parents died in car crash."

"Yeah, I...I know," said Mirany quietly. "Why did he give it to you?"

"Just in case," I told her. "You need to know that what you're feeling...your dad went through it too. He hoped that anything like that happened your parents that it might help you. I don't want you to fall back into what you were doing. So, it's time for you to have it."

"I...thank you," Mirany muttered.

...

"Alright."

Mirany's yellow wolf eyes shone through the darkness.

"Let's get these bastards."

We kicked in the door and were greeted almost immediately by glaring white lights. With yells of surprise and pain we both shielded our eyes, changing back to normal to try and stop some of the excess light from registering in our pupils, but the damage was done. Behind us, I heard the door close and lock.

When I had finally adjusted to the lights, which I'm pretty sure decreased in intensity after we had first been temporarily blinded by them, I saw maybe fifteen beefy men, all armed with either batons, stakes, tasers or glocks, lining the edges of the room, and in front of them stood Sudbury, a smug smile curling his lips.

"Mirany. Vampire. So glad you could join us."

_Oh, I so told you so._

I scowled as I summed up the situation. It did not look good. The chances of us getting out of here were far below zero.

_Not now Mirany._

Mirany frowned.

_Well, I did tell you so._

"Your brother doesn't actually exist, does he?" I asked.

"Uh...in a way. He died a few years ago. If you were even partically competent at your job vampire, you would have looked that up first."

"Why'd you set us up?" Mirany growled, making a move towards him.

About five of the men all grabbed her at once. She didn't resist. I was pretty sure she didn't want to become swiss cheese.

"I set the vampire up honey," said Sudbury. "I'm a collector. And a vampire with a soul...he'll be my prize possession."

"I am not an object," I growled.

"You are to me," said Sudbury simply, smiling very slightly at Mirany as he moved closer to her.

She tried to back away but the men holding her kept her in place. She swallowed.

"What about me?" she asked. "Slayer not rare enough for you?"

"Oh darling, I couldn't dream of putting you in a cage with the rest of my collection," said Sudury softly, lightly brushing her cheek.

Mirany and I both growled.

"You'll stay with me beautiful. After all, we both felt that connection when we saw each other."

Mirany shuddered.

_Please tell me he's not going to rape me._

_With someone like this, I wouldn't put anything past them._

She squeaked slightly.

"Tranc him," said Sudbury carelessly. "Mr Angel, until next time."

Before I could react, something had bene jabbed into the back of my neck. Black spots appeared in my vision, then the floor was coming up to meet me. The pain in my nose told me I blacked out about a second after I hit the ground.

...

**MIRANY**

I squeaked as Angel collapsed. Sudbury looked pleased. He guestured for his goons to let me go. I jerked out of their grips and knelt down beside Angel.

"What did you do to him?" I asked shakily.

"He'll be fine honey. He's alright. He's just sleeping."

I glared at him.

"Don't call me that."

"Why not?" asked Sudbury, grasping my hand tightly and pulling me to my feet. "Sweetheart, is there something wrong?"

I tried to move away but he had an iron cast grip.

"I...I..."

"It's alright beautiful. Everything's going to be alright. What did he do to you? Did he hurt you?"

"No! Let me go! What the hell is wrong with you, you creep! You've only seen me once in your life! Get a grip! I'm not your bloody girlfriend!"

Sudbury sighed.

"He's brainwashed you. It's alright. I'll help you hon. It'll be okay. I'll get rid of him."

"Brainwash...How dare you! I am going to kill- Ah, god!"

Sudbury let go of my hand as I dropped to my knees, my head full of burning pain.

"I'm sorry baby. I don't want to hurt you. Really I don't."

The pain discipated at once. I glared up at Sudbury.

"You don't wanna hurt me?" I growled. "You don't wanna hurt me but you want to kill Angel?"

I snorted softly.

"Those two aren't mutually exclusive," I said.

For the first time, Sudbury looked angry.

"Blood bond."

He signalled one of the men, and a moment later I felt something jab into the back of my neck. Dizziness hit me hard and a moment later, I completely blacked out.

...

**ANGEL**

When I woke up, Mirany, the men, Sudbury and the room was gone. Instead I was in a cage, surrounded by metal bars, stripped of anything I could use as a weapon.

"You trouble me vampire."

I whipped around to glare at Sudbury. He was leaning against the wall a few metres away, arms folded over his chest, watching the ground.

"To think that you thought you could have her," he muttered. "To think that you could take her away from me. You must be mad. But you don't look mad. You act normally. But you had to nerve to go and make a blood bond. A _blood_ bond. You...how can you...?"

He was seething but he took a deep breath.

"But it's alright. I can't break that bond without hurting her, but I have you and I have a knife. So I guess I'm just going to have to take it from you."

Sharp pain shot through my temple and I staggered backwards into the barred wall, screwing up my face in agony. I didn't notice Sudbury leap forwards and slash into my arm until far, far too late.

The pain ended. I opened my eyes but Sudbury was already gone. So Sudbury was part of his own collection. Lovely. Just peachy.

I needed help, and I knew exactly how to get it.

...

**MIRANY**

I had a thumping headache when I woke up, but it certainly wasn't as bad as the sight that beheld me after the first wave of pain had passed.

I was in a mahogany four poster bed, king size, silk sheets, fluffy pillows, the whole sha-bang. Sudbury sat beside me, hand brushing my forehead softly. He didn't look quite so normal and average-joe-ish now. He wore a crisp new black suit, easily Armani or better, a neat black business shirt underneath, and a red silk tie. His hair may have been brushed once, but now it was ruffled, probably due to the hand he kept running through his hair.

He'd seen I was awake, but he didn't really give any indication of it. He was deep in thought, and he just kept stroking me. It was creepy.

The room we were in was huge. Sure, money didn't exactly impress me, but it did show what sort of person someone was. Sudbury was a show off. The room was three quarters glass, one quarter wall. Everything in the room screamed pretenious, from the vases to the glass statues to the furniture. It was all beautiful, probably rare, and most definitely expensive.

The hand he was running through his hair fell to caress a wine glass sitting on a table beside him. I couldn't smell any wine though, but I could smell blood. Angel's blood.

"What did you do to him?"

"Nothing life threatening," Sudbury muttered. "Unfortunately."

I made to get up but my head wasn't fond of the idea and I ended up just lying there, watching Sudbury watch me fondly.

"What? No snide comment? No 'now I've got you in my clutches' speech?" I asked eventually.

"I'll always have you," Sudbury said, smiling very slightly. "I'm not a super villian sweetie. We were meant to be together. I only did what I did so that I could get you away from that vampire. I could see how much he was suffocating you. He was hurting you."

My headache and my pride were battling against each other. I wanted to get up. I wanted to shout my head off at this idiot. That was about all I could do. No matter what sort of powers he had, I was not going to go back to that place. I was not going to hurt him.

"Here, let me help your headache," he muttered.

That, unfortunately, meant that not only did I have to sit up, I also had to drink that glass of blood.

Okay, so it was creepy enough that he helped me up, but it was even worse when he tipped the glass into my mouth for me. I mean, I'm not two years old, I can drink out of a glass for myself. And besides, who on earth force feeds someone blood from a wine glass? Who drinks blood from a glass anyway?

I'm not gonna lie. Blood tastes nice, at least, to me it does. But when it's being fed to me from a glass when it's already started to coagulate, it's gross. Totally gross. Despite my gagging, Sudbury made me drink it, all of it.

"There," he whispered. "That feels better right?"

I sighed internally. It was true. My headache had depleated greatly and I felt...not so much calmer or relaxed, but that sort of relieved feeling you get when you've been...relieved I guess.

He got up to sit on the edge of the bed beside me and I would have moved away if it wasn't for his tight grip on my hand. If I wasn't the slayer, he would have crushed half of my bones.

"Mirany, darling, I am so sorry to have to put you through that. I know you don't like drinking that terrible stuff, but until we can figure out how to break the blood bond without hurting you, you're just going to have to keep drinking it. I know it's hard, but I'll help you. Don't worry. We're going to find a way to break this. I promise. It'll be alright."

He let go of my hand and leant over me. I backed into the wall but he followed. I wanted to hit him. I really, really did, but I wasn't all that sure I could draw my strength enough to stop myself from putting a hole straight through his head. Not that he would be a huge loss to humanity.

_Angel! Help! Angel?_

There was no reply. Either there was some sort of spell on the building, which meant that we couldn't communicate, or he was knocked out. Either way, I was screwed.

"Let me make it up to you," Sudbury whispered. "For not finding you in time."

He was nuzzling into my cheek and neck and I whimpered. Turns out, the creatures I fight aren't the only evil in the world. In fact, sometimes the people I fight for might be worse.

"Don't. Please. Please don't," I squeaked.

"What's the matter sweetheart?" asked Sudbury as he shed his suit jacket and tie. "Are you still not feeling well?"

"Why are you...? Please just..."

He sighed.

"It's okay. I understand honey. It's been stressful for you. It can wait."

This guy has got to be one of the biggest liars I have ever met, because despite this comment, he still kissed me fiercely, balling his hands into my hair and pulling me into him. I resisted, but that didn't stop him forcing my lips to mold to his, and my tongue to tangle around his own. My lip split with th force and he lapped at the blood, almost desperately. I would have called him a vampire if I couldn't hear his heart beat. No, his guy wasn't a night stalker, his was just a stalker.

His hands moved from my hair to my chest and I tried to object, but he didn't give me a chance. His tongue and teeth teasing at my mouth, he wrestled off the rest of his clothes and began to fumble with mine. I wanted to curl up and cry, that or punch his lights out, but I couldn't. I always thought I was invincible, but apparently I'm not. It was later that I considered, for the first time in a long time, breaking my biggest moral. Surely I was entitled to. Surely, surely, lying there, bruised, bloodied and sore, meant that I was allowed to consider retribution. For he'd grabbed me so hard it had hurt. Forced himself upon me so fiercely I had bled. Embarrassed and humiliated me to the point that I knew I would never tell anyone, even if I wanted to. I wasn't weak. I wasn't. But I had a code. And that code, that one code that I thought I would never, ever regret having, that was what prevented me from getting justice.

_Angel. I need you._

...

Angel looked worse for wear, but he didn't look any worse than I felt. In fact, I'm pretty sure I felt a whole lot worse than he looked. Sure, we both had a few cuts and bruises, but I had some serious emotional baggage to add.

He was in a cage, and there were a whole heap of other cages around, all with demons or people who I assumed had some sort of special ability. His cage was placed so that it was in perfect view of a window high above the area, which clearly meant that Sudbury had been as true as his word. Angel was his prize possesion.

"Mirany!"

Angel's fingers wrapped around mine as I held the bars.

"What did he do to you?" I asked.

"Nothing I can't handle, but you really don't look too good," he said. "What did he do to _you_?"

I bit my lip.

"Nothing," I muttered.

"That's not true," said Angel at once.

"It...it's fine," I said.

"Do you have any idea how to get out of here?" Angel asked.

"MIRANY, ARE YOU IN HERE?"

I flinched.

"I escaped for a brief period," I told Angel. "Now he's looking for me."

"I think he found you," said Angel, peering over my shoulder.

I let go of the cell like I had been shocked as I saw Sudbury make his way over.

"You drew her here?" he growled at Angel. "How dare you?"

Angel's grip on the bars became increasingly tighter as he screwed up his face in pain. Sudbury was glaring with fierce intent at him and he dropped to his knees. I stared on in horror. I couldn't tell him to stop. He wouldn't have listened even if he didn't believe Angel had brainwashed me. Angel flopped against the bars as Sudbury stopped his attack on Angel's head.

"You try anything like that again and I'll have to hurt you a whole lot more."

Sudbury pulled me away towards a door at the end of the enormous room before Angel or I could do or say anything and pushed me through before taking my hand and leading me up the stairs to a large study, where the window that could be seen below was situated.

"I know he's done something with your head, but you should try as hard as possible to combat his attempts to get you near him. He wants to hurt you even more. You can't let him hurt you any more honey. And I'll help you. I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you. You and I will always be here for you."

He moved to kiss me and I snapped. He flew across the room as I shoved him away.

"Stay away from you me stupid bastard! Hurt me? Angel would never hurt me! But you know who has? You! You and your crazy obsession! 'You and I' doesn't exist! Get it through your stupid, useless, fucking, idiotic head!"

Sudbury's eyes flashed.

"Excuse me?" he asked venomously. "I have tried to make you feel wanted and comfortable, and this is how you repay me?"

I fell to my knees as pain raked through my head.

"I love you Mirany, but if you're not going to return that love, why should I waste mine?"

The pain was mounting at an alarming rate. I was almost positive Sudbury was going to kill me when Aedus appeared. He looked furious.

"You are a disgrace to the name of psychics," Aedus growled.

The pain left at once.

"You do _not_ kill with your mind. Control your temper Thomas, or I will."

But Sudbury just turned his rage on Aedus instead. Bad move. Aedus flicked his hand and Sudbury yelled as he was tossed from the window.

"If anyone is going to kill you, it will be me," Aedus muttered. "And it won't be through raw power. It's dishonourable. Prepare yourself wolf. Time to die."

I reacted the only way I could. As Aedus 'heated up', I dived for him, but he disappeared. He reappeared at the door as flame erupted all around me.

_ANGEL!_

Aedus smirked as he disappeared again. I backed away from the flames behind the desk and into the wall. There was no other way out other than the door on the other side of the flames. I didn't exactly want to follow Sudbury. Smoke was beginning to fill the office and I began to choke despite my best efforts to filter my breathing through my shirt.

I staggered and fell as more smoke filled my lungs. My vision was blurring, and the last thing I saw before I fell unconscious were flames eating through the desk towards me.

...

**BRYDAN**

It was bad enough that Angel couldn't give me any indication of where it was he wanted me to find them, but it was even worse that I almost teleported inside a wall. Still, I managed to to find my way into the room, landing on a computer, sure, but at least I was there. I hit the emergency button and heard through the wall next door the sounds of hundreds of cages opening, metal grinding against metal as their doors all swung open.

I moved into the next room and flattened myself against the wall as demons and people ran past me towards the exit without a backwards glance. Fire was beginning to descend into the room and the place was filling with smoke. I jumped as Anel grabebd me.

"Mirany's up there!"

"I'll find her. Get out of here," I said.

Again, teleporting was hard. I didn't need to end up in the middle of the flames, and I didn't need to end up inside the stone walls either. So I settled for where I could see. I apparated righ to the edge of the window where fire hadn't touched yet, and I saw Mirany lying behind a flaming desk. She was about ten seconds away from setting alight and I wasted no time in grabbing her and teleporting. Or at least, trying to teleport. But it didn't work.

_Angel! It's not working!_

_She can't exactly help you think about where to land, can she? You have to concentrate!_

I took a deep breath and ended up hacking my lungs out because of it. But I concentrated all the same and I tried again. And again. Mirany's already shallow breathing stopped completely.

_BRYDAN!_

I gave it one last shot, and I managed it. Mirany and I lay sprawled on the pavement outside the mansion.

...

**ANGEL**

The pain that I was experiencing now was far, far worse than what Sudbury had put me through. Every part of me was burning in pain, but I worked through it. I was not going to let her die. I couldn't let it happen.

"Mirany, no. Come on Mirany."

I started pumping her heart hard, getting Brydan to breathe where I couldn't. The pain was building. I couldn't see through it, or was that tears building up? Either way, I kept going. Nothing would stop me until the pain left or Mirany woke up. I hoped against hope it would be the latter.

More pumps. More breaths. The cycle went round and round, until I had almsot given up hope, but then Mriany coughed violently, gulping down air as though it was going out of fashion. Brydan sat back, panting, while I hugged her tightly enough to almost stop her breathing again.

"Angel...what...?"

She didn't finish her question and I didn't reply. I was too relieved to speak right now. The pain was slowly leaving until there was nothing left. The bond between Mirany and I was still in tact. She was alright.

...

**MIRANY**

No matter how many times I asked, I didn't get a reasonable answer as to how I was rescued from that office, but at least Angel was consistent. I just didn't believe that the fire department got there in time to put out the flames and rescue me. But Angel stuck with it, and Brydan backed him up. I still didn't know how Brydan had gotten there, or at least, I didn't know the truth. They both said he just happened to be in the neighbourhood. Both of them were bad liars.

"I don't understand why you'd come and talk to me about this," said Sandelle. "I thought you thought this was Angel's domain."

"I don't think I can talk to Angel right now," I said. "I haven't told him what Sudbury did to me yet. I just..."

"It's understandable Mirany," said Sandelle. "Not many people can voice that sort of thing to anyone, let alone someone they love. And it came at such a bad time for you anyway."

"But I need to tell him so much. I just...I can't."

Sandelle placed her hand over mine.

"Mirany, as much as I know you don't want this sort of advice, Angel would listen to you," she said. "Angel's...well, I hate to say this, but he's _done_ that sort of thing before. If anyone would understand..."

I got to my feet, growling slightly.

"I don't need you to tell me what he used to do. I've done my research. I know...and that's why I haven't told him."

Sandelle raised an eyebrow at me.

"He knows what he did," I said. "He knows the pain that he caused. He'd know exactly what I went through. And I'm not sure I want him to."

Sandelle sighed.

"Mirany, blood bonds run deep. Deeper than you can imagine. You don't have to tell him for him to know what happened. You don't have to say a word to him and he'll know what you're feeling. You might not realise, but he _does_ already know."

I swallowed.

"And I think he's waiting for you to tell him. About Sudbury...and Lilah."

...

Angel's office had so much brooding experience that it was hard not to start brooding as I waited for him to return from a patrol. I was basically soaking up all Angel's brooding time, and that was a fair bit of time. I couldn't help but begin to mull over everything that had happened in the past few weeks and wonder why. Why was it all happening to me? Why hadn't I done soething to stop it? Why had it all happened now? And to think people say I'm an emotionless bitch. I have plenty of emotion. I just like to brood over it before I show it.

"Mirany, I was just about to come over."

I turned the chair to face him and gagged slightly. His shirt was covered in green, badly smelling demon slime.

"Hope you were gonna change your shirt first," I commented.

Angel shed the shirt and tossed it in a corner.

"Well, doesn't look like I need to now," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"I have information you want, you have information I want," I said.

"Oh, so this isn't a social call then?"

"Uh, yeah, it kind of is," I said. "So, you tell me the truth, and I'll tell you."

"Alright, I'll bite," said Angel, pulling me to my feet and wrapping his arms around my waist. "What do you want to know?"

"Look, when I woke up, there was no fire department there, the fire wasn't out at all, and fire fighters don't just leave people lying on the ground when they're unconscious. Also, we both know Brydan wasn't just in the neighbourhood. So what happened Angel?"

Angel bit his lip.

"Mirany I..."

"No, don't give me any of that bullcrap about not being sure if it's a good idea or if I'll be able to handle it or any of that other stuff! I want the truth Angel!"

Angel sighed.

"You were in Sudbury's office. The fire was too strong. There was no way I would be able to get through. So I called Bydan."

"What was he supposed to do? Give snide comments for the next twenty minutes?"

"I've been training him Mirany," he said. "Since those shapeshifters. He teleported in and brought you back out. Mirany...you died."

I stared up at him in shock.

"What?"

"You...you died."

I shivered but bit back what I knew would be a blithering response.

"I asked for the truth," I said shakily. "And...you've lied, but so have I. So, now it's your turn. What do you want to know?"

"Mirany, I don't want to know anything. I-"

"You already know," I finished.

"I..."

Angel bit his lip guiltily.

"Please tell me Mirany. I don't want to know already. I want you tell me."

"Why didn't you tell me? We're in this bond together. Why didn't you tell me what being on your end holds?"

"Because I know how much keeping your feelings and experiences close to the chest means to you," said Angel, reaching to brush my cheek but I turned away before he could. "Mirany, I...I didn't want you to be uncomfortable around me. I want you to open up to me. Why would you do that if you knew I already knew?"

"Well, while we're in truth telling mode, I think I should tell you...bite me!"

I shoved him away and stormed out of the office. We both knew I wouldn't be away for long. Like I could go off blood any large amount of time. But the intent was there all the same, and that's all that really mattered. I hid my tears from Cordelia and Wesley, who were sitting in the lobby, until I got to my Harley. How could Angel expect me to tell him the truth if he wouldn't tell me?

_Mirany. Come back. Please._

I didn't reply. I couldn't think about anything right now. It was too much. On top of everything else, Angel and I was too much. I sat and leant against the motorcycle, crying softly.


	43. Mark of a Warrior

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**This is a continuation from the last one. It's two weeks from the chapter before, as usual, but it runs from what happened last time.**

* * *

_****__**"Courageous, untroubled, mocking and violent; that is what Wisdom wants us to be. Wisdom is a woman, and loves only a warrior." - Friedrich Nietzsche**_

* * *

I didn't really know why I was still so angry at Angel. He'd been honest with me, at least, he had been after I'd asked him to. Maybe it was because he hadn't told me that I had died. Maybe because he hadn't told me he'd been training my best friend, turning him into Mr. Psychic Extraordinaire. Maybe it was because he hadn't told me about how his side of the blood bond had progressed. Whatever the reason, after two weeks, I still wasn't certain of my feelings towards him. I mean, I loved him, there was no denying that, but did I forgive him?...I wasn't so sure.

I hadn't talked to him very much since, though he'd certainly tried. I just wasn't in the mood for amends at the moment. But it was hard not to listen to him. After all, it's kinda hard to ignore someone if you live off them. We still had to see each other. I mean, a fortnight without blood would have driven me insane at the very least, but I tried my best to make those visits short. Angel understood, but he didn't like it. I think that's one part of why I was still keeping this up. I wanted to see him hurting over me. I wanted him to prove himself, and his love. His loyalty. I wanted him to show that I meant more to him than just a blood bond. Because a blood bond wasn't enough. Not anymore.

Maybe I would have been better off talking to him, but I couldn't. Not until I knew that he would talk to me. So when I walked into the hotel, bracing myself for another Angel confrontation, I was surprised to see Cordelia and Wesley waiting for me.

"Mirany, so glad you're here. We wanted to have a word with you," said Wesley.

"Where's Fang Face?" I asked as I sat down.

"Training with Fang Face Junior," said Cordelia. "Actually, we wanted to talk to you about him."

"Guy's, it's none of your business. We're just going through a rough patch and I personally don't believe that requires an intervention from the peanut gallery!" I snapped.

Wesley looked slightly taken aback but Cordelia brushed it aside like an annoying fly.

"You've insulted me so often you're gonna have to do a lot better than that. Mirany, Angel isn't right without you. He's...colder."

"Yeah? Well next time he shouldn't keep that stuff from me."

"Mirany, let's be honest with ourselves here. You don't tell him everything either," said Wesley.

"Yeah, I mean, you and Angel are like King and Queen of clamming up," said Cordelia.

"Yeah, but it doesn't bother him because he knows anyway," I said.

"But he wants _you_ to tell him," said Cordelia. "Mirany, you have no idea how scared he is that what he's done is irreversible! And when Angel's scared, he does what you do. He gets withdrawn. Angry."

"Wow, irreversible, big word there. Do you know what it means as well?" I asked coolly and Cordelia scowled.

"Mirany, this is exactly what he's afraid of!" said Wesley somewhat desperately. "He's afraid we're going to lose you. That you'll...that you'll go back to what you were before."

"And he couldn't tell me this himself because...?"

"Because you're not talking to me," said Angel from the balcony above.

"And here I was thinking this was a private function," I said bitterly. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I came here for a reason but...I can find it else where."

Angel was at the door before I'd so much as gotten up, so I just went right ahead and tried to push past him. Not the smartest move I'd ever made. Angel had flung out an arm to stop me, and before I knew what was happening, I'd swung at him. But Angel was actually a lot faster than he looked. He grabbed my fist from mid air and twisted my arm behind my back, hooking his other arm around my neck. He wasn't pressing hard and he certainly wasn't doing any damage, but if it came to it, he was in the perfect position to do so.

"You should never drink from any random vampire. You have no idea where they've been. Just hear me out Mirany. Please? Will you listen?"

"You're the one giving me the strangle hold," I said.

"That doesn't mean you'll listen," he said.

"Fine," I muttered. "Shall we adjourn to your office then?"

I jerked out of his grip and stalked ahead, almost whacking him in the face with the door as he followed.

"You know, you could have just made me stay," I said grumpily, sitting down in his chair. "After all, that is one of your blood bond powers."

I spat out the last three words venomously.

"It would be one of yours too if you bothered to try," said Angel pointedly, leaning against the wall beside the door.

"Am I a prisoner again? _You_ gonna rape me as well?"

Angel looked severely stung. Good.

"Mirany, I would never...don't joke about that."

"Oh of course. The Scourge of Europe would never do something like that," I said sarcastically.

Yeah, I was hitting below the belt, and to tell you the truth, it felt good. Right until his reply.

"Well, at least my family didn't die because of me," he said, eyes sparkling with a sort of vindictive pleasure. This was the real Angel. The Angel under the soul. I'd managed to awaken the beast. Angel must have been beyond angry. He'd never say something like that otherwise, because he was certain that it wasn't true, and he was always quick to tell me.

I recoiled from his remark.

"Snide comments about my past will only get you snide comments about yours," he said. "Trust me Mirany. If you want to get into a pissing match with me, you better bring an umbrella."

He was right of course. I could have all the dirt in the world on him and all he had to do was twist the smallest doubt in my mind and make it something huge. Angelus may not rule him, but he was definitely still there.

"But if I was here to play games with you, you'd have lost years ago," he said. "Mirany, I'm not going to ask you to forgive me. I've done that more times than I can count over the past couple of weeks and it hasn't worked."

He snorted softly.

"For all your traits Mirany, the one I admire most is your persistance. But I would like to ask if it's space you need, or if it's something else?"

"Don't you already know?" I asked coolly. "What with your amazing powers of knowing everything that goes on in my life?"

"Mirany, I'm going against everything I know here and I'm conceding that I was an idiot. And normally I would just push and push until it either got better or completely broke. But I'm reaching out here. The least you could do is meet me halfway."

"If I'd wanted space Angel I'd have left the country if that answers your question."

"So...what? You want me to...prove myself?"

"Yeah," I said firmly. "Yes Angel. I want you to prove that you're not as much of an idiot as you were. I want you to prove your loyalty. Your love. And I know I've lied to you as well, and I'm happy to do the same for you, but I'm pretty sure I haven't kept back something quite as major as, oh let's say, my death."

"What do you want me to do Mirany? I know you don't believe in marriage any more than I do, and I've saved your life enough times to know that it's slowly becoming an insult to you and your abilities so it's not that either. I realise this is usually the sort of thing that requires me to figure it out but...all the usual options are gone. Whatever it is, I'll do it."

I considered him. Would he really do it?

"I want you to take a warrior's oath," I told him. "Ceremony, spell and all. I want it to be completely binding."

Angel's mouth parted slightly in shock.

"I'll admit, I wasn't expecting that," he said. "You pulled that from thin air."

I didn't say a word, just watched him expectantly.

"Mirany, this is...this is big."

He swallowed.

"But...I will," he said. "I'll do it. I said whatever, and I'm sticking to it."

I was...well, to put it simply, I was stunned. A warrior's oath was the most binding oath there was. The 'warrior' swears to protect a subject on their life. They must make every effort they can to protect them, including losing their life if necessary, or they die. It was a bond that had been lost for a long time now. Because if the requirements, nobody was really willing to do it, but here Angel was, declaring he would take the oath if that's what it would take to prove himself. Angel came around the desk to crouch in front of me.

"Mirany?"

"I didn't think you'd say yes," I said slowly.

"Mirany, when you died...I couldn't have felt worse. And you have no idea the relief I felt when you came back. _No_ idea. I will take any oath you want. I don't ever want to feel that way again."

I smiled.

"So," said Angel, "let's do it."

...

**ANGEL**

"A WARRIOR'S OATH! ARE YOU INSANE?" Wesley yelled at me, pacing in front of my desk, me and Connor.

"Uh, no," I said.

"Angel, there's love and loyalty, then there's stupidity. This is stupidity!"

Wesley looked like he really wanted to bang his fist on my desk but he restrained himself. Connor sat frowning slightly.

"What exactly does this involve?" he asked.

"Taking an oath," I said simply. "Protect or die basically."

"And you're going to give this to _Mirany_? The _Slayer_? Girl who's _always_ getting in trouble?"

I scowled at him.

"Yes," I said firmly.

"This is _not_ a good idea," said Wesley.

"Wes, I don't need your permission, I need your advice and your help," I told him.

Wesley sighed.

"Don't use the original oath. Make up your own oath, on your own terms, just in case there's something in there that you don't need, as long as you stick to the general idea of protect or die. Keep the traditional ceremony though if you really want to go through with it."

"Thank you," I said.

"How come I've never heard of this before?" Connor asked.

"Because it hasn't been taken in centuries," said Wesley. "Or if it has, it's been taken very quietly indeed. A warrior's bond shifts the balance in the supernatural community. They can feel it. Particularly those more in tune to everything."

"Psychics?" Connor asked. "Mirany at the psychic chic's place? If anyone knows how to do it..."

"Yes," I said shortly. "Yeah, she's there."

"I'm getting the feeling that doesn't impress you very much," said Connor.

"Let's just say there are too many psychics who learn to abuse their powers," I said. "But Mirany trusts her, so she's not gonna want to hear it. And we don't know how to do the ceremony so we need her right now."

"Angel, you don't need me to tell you this, but I'm going to anyway," said Wesley. "What you're planning is stupid, and I don't think it's a good idea. If she's dies-"

"I will only die if I didn't do everything I could have to prevent it," I said. "I know what I'm getting into Wesley, I just need to know how."

...

**MIRANY**

"A warrior's oath? I hope you're not about to sign your life away Mirany," said Sandelle, looking over the rim of her glass at me.

"Not me," I said. "I just wanna know what you know."

"Angel then," said Sandelle, leaning back in her chair. "I have to hand it to you two, you're both as crazy as each other."

She smiled at me slightly, a twinkle in her eye.

"What exactly do you need to know?"

"Whatever you know."

Sandelle sat back, studying me.

"What do you know already?

"Diddly squat," I said simply. "I know that there's three parts; the ceremony, oath and spell, but I don't know anything about them, let alone how to do them."

"Well, I'll fill some of the gaps. The ceremony binds the two of you together and-"

"I thought the spell did that," I interrupted.

"No," said Sandelle patiently. "Well, sort of. The ceremony binds you physically, the spell spiritually."

"Okay, so what do we do?"

"Well, you'll need a dragon-forged sword," said Sandelle, "which will most likely be difficult. There are only seven documented ones left."

"Dragon-forged?"

"As in, made with dragon flame or blood."

"You're talking King Arthur here," I said. "You mean to tell that in order to do this ceremony, I need Excalibur?"

"Or one similar in origin, yes."

"Awesome," I muttered. "What else?"

"You both bleed on the sword, grab the hilt and recite this. When you hold the hilt, his hand should be on top."

Sandelle had gotten to her feet and was scribbling down something on a piece of paper. She came back and handed it to me. It was in Latin, and loosely translated to 'through blood and sword our lives shall be bound. Whilst one is on this Earth, so should be the other. We bind our blood to make us one.'

"Once you've done that, Angel takes the oath upon the sword and you accept it."

She paused for a moment.

"The next part is the spell," she said slowly. "You're going to need a third person to perform it because you two need to remain holding the sword. Now, this is where it hurts."

"There's always a catch, isn't there?" I muttered.

Sandelle shrugged.

"I don't know the specifics. I assume it's the price you pay for taking such a binding oath. This spell will bind your spirits together."

"And then it's done right?" I asked.

"Yes," said Sandelle. "Mirany, I feel somewhat obligated to tell you that this is not marriage, since no one else appears to have done so. You can't break a warrior's oath any more than you can break a blood bond. And this oath will likely enhance the blood bond abilities of both of you. Talking to each other telepathically will be like out-of-tune radio compared to 3D television. The small emotional bond that you two are developing will be like a tadpole to a shark. You will feel _everything_ that he feels, you will know _everything_ that he knows, see _everything_ he sees, and vice versa. And I hate to break it to you, but Angel's head is no fun park Mirany. And if the spell goes wrong...it can get ugly."

I nodded.

"I know," I said. "But it's a choice I'm making. So, what's the spell?"

"It's in this," said Sandelle, waving a hand. A book on a shelf flew across the room and into my hands. "This is all the help I can give you. For your sake, I hope it works."

...

Excalibur. _The_ Excalibur. On_ my_ table. I swear, if I believed, I would have to say it was the hand of God that brought it to me. The museum owner who had it...he hadn't been about to budge at all. Then all of a sudden he folded. Sure, a very convincing one billion had been transferred to the museum's account an hour ago, but still...it was Excalibur.

Angel sat opposite me, staring at the sword.

"That...this is..."

He couldn't finish any of his sentences. Wesley stood at the end of the table, itching to pick it up and examine it, but I had banned it the moment they walked through the door.

"So...do we start?" I asked.

Wesley gave Angel a pointed look.

"Can we talk?" he asked me.

I swallowed. I did not like the sound of that. But I followed him into my room and sat on my bed, frowning slightly at him.

"You're backing out, aren't you?" I asked.

"No," said Angel, which just added to my surprise about all things Angel. What exactly did the son-of-a-bitch want to talk to me about then? "No. But if you'll let me, I would like to try to make you back out."

I blinked.

"I don't understand."

Angel squatted in front of me, taking my hands in his.

"If we do this, you will have complete, unrestrained...unwanted access to my head. My thoughts, my memories, my feelings. And even if I can't talk you out of this, I need to prepare you for it."

"Angel, I know what you've done, you can't tell me anything I don't know about that," I told him.

"That's true," he said. "You're parent's library is extensive to say the very least. But a history book can't tell you how I felt doing it. None of them will tell you what I was feeling when I did...when I did what Sudbury did and more. And none of the experiences you have with your 'bad side' are anything like what I have with Angelus. He doesn't have a soul Mirany. And he...he is always there. Always waiting. Always poking, prodding, listening, talking."

I didn't know of any way to reply to this, but luckily, Angel wasn't finished.

"So what I'm trying to say is that if we go through with this, you will hear him. And you will feel him. And you will see the things he's done, the things _I've_ done...and I need you to know that whatever you see, whatever you feel, whatever you hear, it's not who I am anymore."

I considered him.

"Show me?" I asked.

Angel stared at him.

"What?"

"Show me. Show me what you're afraid I'll see since I'm going to see it anyway. When you get inside my head you feel what I feel in my memories," I said. "So it's gotta work the other way around. Then I can make a decision. Then I can know."

"Mirany, I wanted to talk to you, not scare you half to death."

"So you'd prefer me scared half to death after you take a life-binding oath?" I asked. "Wouldn't you rather I be prepared?"

Angel exhaled sharply through his nose.

"I hate it when you do that," he growled. "Alright. Fine. But you are not going to like it."

I didn't care. I was going to know. I was going to find out what it felt like to be Angel before I was subjected to it for the rest of my life. Angel swallowed and placed the tips of his fingers from one hand against my forehead.

"Concentrate on my thoughts," he said. "Block everything else out. Closing your eyes will help."

I did this, expecting to suddenly open my eyes inside Angel's thoughts, but certainly not expecting the feeling that I was trying to break down a wall with my head. I lurched away from his fingers reflexively but he held the back of my head and forced me through it.

"Come on Mirany. It's okay. That's the first barrier to the brain. It's harder to do it to me, I'm a vampire, that's supposed to happen. Push through."

I pushed. Another wall. I was too far in now to know what I was doing, but I must have pulled back again.

"It's okay Mirany. This is it. It's alright."

The next wall took about three times with my skull to break down. I was going to have a monumental headache when this was done. After the blinding pain was over, I saw the room in front of me. And it was full of kids. Little ones. It was a class room. Just looking, I felt something almost euphoric. And vindictive, terrible pleasure. And then I knew. I knew what was going to happen long before it did. But I couldn't pull away. I had to watch. I couldn't stop myself. And that feeling. That absolute pleasure only intensified. Only got worse.

Angel pulled away before I did. He was shaking slightly, his eyes closed, and breathing deeply, even though he didn't need to. I was shaking as well, but not because I was trying to control myself.

"Did you...di...did you do that...do that all the time?" I stuttered.

Angel swallowed slightly.

"Not...not all the time," he said quietly. "Mirany, you wanted me to-"

"I know," I interrupted. "I know. Just give me a second alright?"

Angel fell silent.

"I...I thought it would be something more...Sudbury-ish," I said.

"You've lived through stuff like that. You already know what that's like," Angel said. "And I thought this was probably one of the terrible things that I did that you didn't know about me. One of the few times something I did wouldn't be recorded. I thought this was the sort of thing you'd want to see."

"The sort of thing I'd want to..."

I laughed without humour.

"Will you leave? Please?"

Angel stared at me, but he seemed to understand. He squeezed my hand briefly and left. I pulled my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them and resting my chin on my knees, thinking it over. Thinking it all over.

...

**ANGEL**

"She was scared," I muttered. "She wasn't just shocked, she was _scared_. I...she knows I'm not like that any more. She knows I have a soul. She knows I would never do that again."

"Angel, you've shown her one of the worst things you've ever done. She's bound to be apprehensive," said Wesley. "She has reason to be. But I believe she'll come round again Angel. She just needs some air. Give her some time."

"It's been two days Wes," I pointed out.

"Well, you won't have to wait too long, seeing as she's going to need you very, very soon," said Wesley.

"Like now?" Mirany asked from the doorway.

We both turned around to look at her. She didn't look great. She wasn't in her usual designer-faded jeans and perfect fitting button down shirt with straight, tied up hair. She was wearing an old pair of trackpants and a hanging singlet shirt, her hair was slightly frizzy and hanging loose and her eyes were red and slightly puffy. She'd been crying. Softly, yes, but still crying. And her careless way of presenting meant that she definitely wasn't feeling her best.

"Leave," she barked at Wesley, who left immediately, clearly picking that it was not the time to mess with her. "Sit."

I sat at once. She tossed a knife at me.

"Come on. Get this over with."

I turned the knife in my fingers for a moment before running it into the surface of my desk.

"Sit."

Mirany smirked slightly as she sat opposite me.

"That's my line."

"I'm borrowing it," I told her. "Why the sudden lack of...anything?"

Mirany rolled her eyes.

"Just haven't been paying much attention, that's all," she said.

"Looks more like you haven't been paying _any_ attention," I observed.

"Oh, I'm sorry, am I not allowed to have more important things on my mind?" Mirany snapped. "Things that _you_ put there to begin with. Why do you always..."

She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths through gritted teeth.

"But, I've thought it all through now," she said, "and I think I'm alright."

"I don't-"

"I want you to take the oath. I want to do it."

"Even though you'll hear-"

"Yes Angel. Let's do it."

I nodded.

"To be honest I expected you to go the other way with this," I said.

"Well since we're being honest-"

"Don't start," I warned. "I don't want to get into another pissing match Mirany. We have got a long road ahead of us. Don't let's start on the wrong foot."

Mirany got up and came round the desk, smiling slightly as she considered me.

"Fair enough," she said, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me deeply.

...

**MIRANY**

"Per cruor quod mucro nostrum ago vadum exsisto reus. Dum unus est in is Terra sic vadum exsisto ceterus. Nos redimio nostrum cruor facio nos unus."

_Through blood and sword our lives shall be bound. Whilst one is on this Earth so shall be the other. We bind our blood to make us one._

Both my hand and Angel's were still bleeding slightly on the hilt of Excalibur and the blade was wet with blood. Angel's hand covered mine and he squeezed it slightly before he started to take the oath.

"I, Liam Angel, pledge myself to you through blood and sword, and give you my oath that I will guide you, fight with you, and protect you to the best of my abilities as your warrior. If I should fail, or if I should break my oath, I shall give my life to the Powers That Be."

Liam. Angel's real name. Nobody apparently knows what his last name is, not even himself it would seem. Maybe he just found it too embarrassing. Still, history books don't really care about embarrassing last names, but they didn't have it either. Maybe he just didn't have one. Weird, uncommon, but not completely out there.

"I, Mirany Hunter..."

I paused to stare at Angel. He looked so confident, assured. Was he really ready for this? Was I? Was I ready for a warrior? Was I ready for a warrior with Angel's background. It was going to be difficult. Hell, it was going to be much more than difficult. I would hear Angelus. I knew I would. Was I ready? But I couldn't back out. Not now. We were too far in now.

"...accept your warrior's oath."

It was as good as done. Wesley wasn't going to back down. He knew if he did his fate would be far worse than death. He began the spell.

I had been forewarned about the pain, but I wasn't prepared for it. It burned across the back of my hand and I tried to move away instinctively. Angel's grip on my hand tightened, keeping it on the sword.

_'If the spell goes wrong...it can get ugly.'_

I really didn't want to be witness to that, so I didn't resist. I couldn't. I was _going_ to make it through this, and I was _going_ to cope with the aftermath. Whatever Angel had done, I would be able to cope with it.

The burning continued right until Wesley had finished the spell, and a few moments longer. Angel kept my hand on the hilt for another minute or so before allowing me to let go. The back of my hand now had a pencil thin outline on it of two wings with swirled feathers and a sword in between them. I could see that Angel's palm had the same marking. This was the sign that a warrior's bond gave. It was to signify that someone was already a warrior when it was on the palm. When it was on the back of the hand, it was to show how many warriors a person had. Each mark was unique to the pair. This was unique to us. The wings for Angel, the sword for me. This...this was _our_ mark.

...

**AEDUS**

I knew it was going to happen. I'd been waiting for it. But I didn't think it would happen quite so soon. Though thinking about it, I didn't see why. She was a teenager. A silly little girl with fantasies of a perfect life, a perfect romance, and he wanted to redeem himself. He saw an opportunity in her. He was at her beck and call. Well, I'd make sure it was the last time either of them didn't think something through.


	44. 21

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**I've been adding it up, and I have written about three-and-a-half years worth of material since I started with this as far as my characters are concerned...cool :) Anyway, just thought I'd put it out there.**

**Enjoy this chapter and don't forget to review or give me some quotes :)**

**Remember, I am ALWAYS looking for new quotes, however, please don't propose story lines. If you want something written, write it yourself, because nobody else will be able to write something the way you want it written. Been getting a few requests and I'm just going to give giving you the same reply. I'm happy to Beta-read, but I'm not happy writing someone else's idea.**

* * *

_**"There is still no cure for the common birthday." - John Glenn**_

* * *

I frowned at Sandelle.

"I'm sick of you reading my tarots. Why don't I read yours?"

Before Sandelle could answer I'd taken the desk from her and placed the cards out in a rectangle in front of her. Sandelle watched me, looking amused.

"Pick one," I ordered.

Smirking, Sandelle picked a card. I flipped it over. The High Priestess.

"You are the top dog of a cult," I told her.

"I am wise, pure and have a slight lack of patience," said Sandelle.

"You are the top dog of a cult," I repeated firmly. "If you were wise, the card would have a picture of Dumbledore. I don't see Dumbledore, do you? Pick another one."

Beside me, Angel grinned. I hadn't particularly wanted Angel to come, but it's no as if he didn't know everything I was going to talk to Sandelle about anyway, and besides, what would happen if Sandelle suddenly turned into a raving lunatic and tried to kill me. I might need him. So, as a dutiful warrior, he came.

Sandelle flipped another card. The Tower.

"You were once either locked in a tower and rescued by a prince, or you were the bricks and cement that made the tower, I can't be sure," I said.

"Or perhaps there was a sudden change, an abandonment perhaps, and I let go of my past," Sandelle suggested.

I shook my head.

"Nup, definitely the damsel or the tower."

Sandelle rolled her eyes and picked another. The Devil.

"...You're the devil," I concluded simply.

Sandelle swept up the cards and put the deck away.

"Why did you bring the vampire?" she asked.

We both frowned at her. I wasn't frowning because she insisted on not actually using Angel's name when he was in the same room as her, I was just frowning because she already knew perfectly well why I brought Angel, but Angel was frowning because she never called him Angel, always 'the vampire'.

"Because he's good company, why do you think?" I asked sarcastically.

_Hey!_

_Well it's true._

"Yes, but he could wait in the car," muttered Sandelle.

"Hello? I'm right here!" said Angel pointedly.

"Yes, we know, and that's the problem," I told him.

Angel scowled and slumped into his chair.

"Anyway, I'm not about to get rid of him so you might as well get over it," I told her. "It's his way or the highway."

Sandelle sighed.

"Fine. So, someone told me you're celebrating twenty-one years tomorrow."

I scowled at Angel.

"That's it, we're going," I growled.

Angel grinned as he pulled me back down onto the couch.

"Just talk," he said. "It's not my fault you don't tell anyone else these things."

_Shut up vampire._

_Shut up werewolf._

"I'm sorry, did I touch a nerve?" asked Sandelle, smirking.

"I hate it when you gang up on me," I muttered sullenly.

"What's wrong with birthdays?" asked Sandelle.

"Nothing," I said at once.

Angel snorted.

"You stay out of this!" I snapped.

"And really?" asked Sandelle.

"Getting old," I muttered. "Older, wrinklier, weaker, slower...older."

"Your boyfriend is gunning for his tricentennial, you don't have a single wrinkle, a slayer's power only gets stronger, you're a part-wolf and technically speaking you're just growing into adulthood as far as wolves go and are therefore just getting faster...and you're not old," said Sandelle.

"You know, that's basically what I said," said Angel. "But do you think she'd listen? No. Even when she knows perfectly well that I'm telling the truth."

"You're telling me what you _think_ is the truth. You have no actual proof that it is the truth," I told him.

"I know perfectly well that I'm heading into my tricentennial, that you don't have any wrinkles, that a slayer's powers do only get stronger, and that you're not old. Okay, so I don't know about the wolf thing, but I know everything else!" said Angel firmly.

I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever."

Sandelle smirked.

"Don't look too happy, I'm about to shoot you down as well," I informed her.

"Look, ignore me if you want, but I think you should embrace your birthday. You're the slayer, you can't have too many more of them," she said.

My eyes narrowed.

"I'm sorry, but it's true," said Sandelle. "And you know it. So, what really bothers you about your birthday?"

Angel smirked and rested his head in his hand as he lent against the table.

"Yeah Mirany, what really bothers you?"

I glared at them both and moved to the door.

"Unless either of you have a reason for me to stay, I'm leaving," I said simply.

"Go ahead. I'll see you later," said Sandelle.

I scoffed.

"Uh huh," I muttered. "Angel, come."

...

_All I could see was magic fire. Everywhere I looked was covered in bright purple and blue flames. There were screams from outside the building, calling out for help. and I could hear the sirens of fire trucks, but their water was clearly having no effect. In fact, it was simply spurring the flames to greater heights._

_I could see the flickering silhouette of a man walking towards me, and as he stepped in plain sight, I saw the psychic walk right through the flames and lean over the chair I was tied to. His face was so close to mine that we were almost touching._

_"Let's see how cocky you are after you've been burnt to an inch of your life," he hissed. "You'll tell me what I want to hear Mirany Hunter. You'll tell me even if I have to cut the words right out of your throat."_

_I spat at him and he snarled, a flaming hand whipping up to slap me hard in the face. It burnt like nothing I'd ever felt and he raised his hand again, bringing it down to back hand me this time. The flames around us had finally reached me and the chair and were racing up the wood, and my legs. They flew up my legs to my chest and-_

...

I yelled as I woke up, sweating bullets and panting heavily.

"If you think that was bad, you will not last what else I have in store for you wolf."

I whipped around, all my senses on high alert, and almost had a heart attack when I saw Aedus. Before I knew what I was doing, I was scrambling towards the bedside table where I kept the necklace Sandelle had given to me. I was almost there when I froze, against my will.

"Uh uh," said Aedus quietly. "Let's not involve _that_. Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you tonight."

He smirked slightly.

"After all, it's your birthday."

"How do you-?"

"I heard a rumour you know."

Aedus grabbed my hand and flipped it over to see the back of it. His fingers burned as they touched but I wasn't going to say a word. I wasn't going to show him how much my hand was screaming in protest.

"You really did have the best timing," he said. "Well, for me anyway."

I jerked my hand away and backed into my headboard.

_Angel. Angel, wake up._

He wasn't. Maybe Aedus had done something to him, maybe he was just tired. After all, most nights he didn't sleep. When he did, he slept. Well. I kicked him. He didn't make a sound.

"Don't bother," said Aedus coolly. "He's sleeping."

_Bastard._

"If all you wanted to do was make sure that what you felt really was a blood bond then get stuffed," I snapped.

"Watch your tongue wolf or I'll cut it off," Aedus growled.

We glared at each other. Eventually, Aedus took a breath and looked away.

"This is a waste of my time."

He placed something on the table beside me.

"Celebrate your birthday."

He smirked.

"You won't get another."

_How does he...how does he know?_

Before I could say a word, Aedus had disappeared.

...

"I wish you would let me do _something_ to celebrate your birthday," Angel sighed. "Come on Mirany, why not?"

"Because there's no point," I said, rolling away from him. I hadn't told him about Aedus. What he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. This is, if he didn't know, which he probably did. Apparently it wasn't hard to know what I had been doing if he took a moment to find out. "I mean, why do we even celebrate the day we're born when we don't even remember it?"

Angel watched me as I got to my feet from his position on my bed. I'd managed to get back to sleep by some miracle after Aedus had left, but it was fitful, and I ended up just lying there, waiting for Angel to wake up. The thing Aedus had put on my bedside table had been stashed in a drawer. I'd deal with it later. Right now, I had to deal with Angel.

"I refuse to believe that you've been like this your whole life," he said. "There had to be some point in time when you actually looked forward to your birthday. What about when you were a kid?"

"Don't like cake," I said simply, jigging slightly to get my jeans on.

Angel chuckled.

"I bet you were popular," he said sarcastically.

"Didn't go to school. Didn't need to be."

My shirt wasn't being quite as co-operative as my jeans. I couldn't find the hole to put my head through.

"You know, if you put your arm through the sleeve rather than the neck, it might help," Angel suggested.

I frowned at him as I adjusted and slipped the shirt on.

"Why can't you just drop the subject? It's my birthday. Hooray, I'm a year older. Can we move on?"

I sat on my bed to struggle with my shoes and Angel took me up around the waist.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?"

"Well see, unlike you and everyone else that I seem to know, I have an estate to take care off," I said, trying to duck away from him as he kissed down my neck and failing. His fingers weren't about to unhook from my belt loop either.

"Don't be cold," said Angel quietly. "I'm not the one that thinks I shouldn't celebrate my birthday just because I don't like cake."

"That is not why I don't celebrate my birthday," I said sullenly.

"No, but it's still amusing," said Angel, letting go of me. "Go and run your estate then if you're in such a hurry. I'm going back to the hotel. Gotta make sure no one died while I was away."

"Okay, see you tomorrow, bye," I said quickly, getting all the way to the door before he was able to reply.

"Why don't you swing by the hotel later?" Angel asked before I could leave.

_Drat._

I turned back to him.

"I dunno. Busy day. Lots of trade happening around now."

"We're in a recession Mirany. Can't be too much trade happening," Angel commented. "And I know perfectly well that the moment I leave you're just going to turn on that massive home theatre system of yours and watch Star Wars reruns. So if your _busy_ schedule will allow it, swing by around eightish?"

I scowled.

"Angel..."

"Don't you have some trading to do?" asked Angel, giving me his most charming 'I've done nothing wrong' type grin.

I gritted my teeth.

_You are going to regret this. I am going to make you regret this._

_I'm sure you will._

...

"Hey! It's the birthday girl!"

The glare I gave Brydan was so fierce that he backed away.

"Whoa, okay. Uh...hi?"

"Better," I muttered, turning Aedus' 'present' in my hands. I didn't even know what it was. A box of some sort. It was wooden and amazingly intricate, carved with beautiful patterns all over it. About the size of a box you would expect a ring to be in. Thankfully, there was no ring. It was empty actually. It was a taunt of some sort, I just wasn't sure what yet.

"Angel give you that?"

"No," I sighed, pausing my Star Wars so that I wouldn't miss anything talking to Brydan. "I...found this."

"You're a terrible liar but I won't hold it against you," said Brydan. "I cheat on people all the time."

"I'm not cheating Brydan. Unlike you, I don't bring home a different person every night."

"No, just the same person. You're really boring, you know that?"

"That's me," I said sarcastically. "Boring."

"What did Angel give you then?"

"Don't know yet," I said. "He's keeping it a surprise."

"Why don't you find out? You can do that now, right?"

"Yeah but it hurts," I whined. "So I'm not going to."

"And you call yourself the Slayer," Brydan muttered. "Well, I'd give you my present but you clearly don't want it."

I raised an eyebrow.

"You don't give presents. You give cards, three days late," I said.

"Well, I broke that habit this year," said Brydan, sitting down beside me and putting his feet up on the coffee table, breaking open a packet of chips. "Wanna see?"

"I don't know. I'm sort of scared now," I said, smirking.

Brydan whistled.

"You know, the people the work here aren't dogs," I reprimanded him. "You could treat them with some respect."

Brydan grinned.

"No dogs?" he asked. "I think maybe you should get your eyes checked."

"Brydan, tell me you didn't-"

I was cut off by a shrill bark and I turned to see a beautiful, snow white husky puppy trotting into the room. I stared from it to Brydan.

"I don't know what your game is here, but I'm going to let you slide just this once," I told him. He was still grinning.

The pup bounced over and sniffed at me curiously before barking again and nuzzling against me.

"Guess dogs like wolves," Brydan commented, dropping some popcorn in front of it. "Her name's Maia."

"I...I...thank you," I said eventually.

"It's cool," he said. "Now, play the movie, oldie."

I growled before turning to the screen, scratching at Maia's ears.

...

I tilted my head from side to side, trying to figure out whether or not I had wrinkles. Not that I was worried or anything, I just wanted to know whether my dealings with Angel and his team had caused me to prematurely age. I checked my watch. Seven-thirty. I did not want to go. I really, really didn't. But I knew as well as the next guy that I would. It was kinda inevitable really. Like I could ever say no. What Angel wants, Angel gets.

Which is how I found myself not watching Star Wars, and instead driving down to the hotel to meet my fate. But, luckily for me, my fate wasn't there...yet.

"Mirany, happy birthday. Oh, Angel's gone out," said Wesley, looking up as I sat down. "Said he'd be back in half an hour maybe."

"It's not happy, it's just a birthday. How long ago did he say that?"

Wesley checked his watch.

"About half an hour ago," he said. "Guess he wasn't expecting you to be early."

"Seeing as you _never_ are," Connor muttered from across the room.

"That's not true. She's always early when there's something to be killed or chocolate involved."

I turned to the doorway and let out a small, uncontrollable, groan of delight. He was topless and positively glowing. Night really did suit him. Aside from the obvious, I'd only seen him topless like this a few times before, and this was much better.

"What, did you need to make an entrance or something?" asked Connor coolly.

"Hey, just 'cause _you_ can't peg a guy like this doesn't mean that you have to be rude," I told him, resting my chin in my hand and watching Angel greedily as he walked in and came over to me.

"You know what, now I understand why people murder people," said Connor. "Because they see things like this and they get annoyed by people like you."

Ignoring him, I trailed a finger along Angel's arm.

"Why _are_ we being treated to your chest tonight?" I asked.

Angel smirked.

"Well, I could tell you what really happened but...I'm gonna go with the option of it being a pre-birthday present," he said, pulling me to my feet. "Come on, we're on a tight schedule."

"I can't imagine why, seeing as we're not doing anything for my birthday," I said pointedly.

"Just come," said Angel exasperatedly, leading me upstairs and into his bedroom.

"You know, you didn't have to set a date in order to take me to your bedroom. I probably would have come at any time," I said.

Angel grinned at me over his shoulder as he picked out a new shirt. A nice one.

"Alright. Where are we going?" I asked, sitting cross-legged on his bed.

"Where do you wanna go?" asked Angel, eyes sparkling with some sort of sadistic amusement as he turned around.

"Home," I told him, "but that's clearly not an option. And what are you so happy about?"

"You could have your answer within about two seconds if you tried," said Angel, placing a hand lightly on my shoulder and pushing me slowly back onto the bed, leaning over me.

"I may be good babe, but I'm not that good," I smirked.

Angel rolled his eyes.

"You know what I mean."

He was trailing kisses up my neck, making it rather hard for me to concentrate on being annoyed that at some point during the night he was going to make me celebrate my birthday.

"The last time...I did that...I had a concussion...for a week," I managed through shudders as he worked his mouth far too expertly up my neck to be fair.

"It's easier now," Angel whispered into my skin. "I know how much you hate surprises."

When he pulled away, I whimpered in spite of my better judgement. Angel's lightning quick smirk showed his satisfaction with himself. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to punch him or love him.

"But if you're going to refuse, then I suppose you'll just have to hate me a little more," he said, pulling me to my feet suddenly and out of the door.

"One day I'm going to get used to being your rag doll," I muttered. "I'm driving."

Angel raised an eyebrow at me as we moved down the stairs and through the door to the car park, ignoring everyone in the lobby as we went.

"I don't think so," he said, taking my other hand and leading me backwards to his car. "I refuse to let you drive tonight."

"Why not?" I pouted.

"Because I'd have to tell you where we were going," said Angel.

"You just tried to get me to-" I started indignantly.

"Mirany, I know you better than anyone else in the world," Angel reminded me. "Like you would do that after the last time. Give me a little credit, please."

He'd backed up into his car.

"Why can't I know?" I asked.

"Because as much as you hate it, I want to surprise you."

Since I'd first met him, I'd been able to practice my 'I'm going to kill you in your sleep' look very often, and I'm pretty sure that by now, it was perfect, so I gave Angel everything I had in that one look, but he didn't seem scared.

_Stupid, annoying, hot vampire._

Angel grinned.

"That's me," he said, opening the passenger door and gesturing me into the car. "Mi'lady."

I didn't want to admit it, but I could get used to this sort of treatment.

...

The sad truth is that Angel just knows me. Knows me better than anyone. Probably knows me better than me. So he knew how to make enjoy a night even when I was determined not to. Laying back on Angel's chest, sitting on the hood of his car, staring out at the night, beer in hand, I was having a difficult time in not wanting to celebrate my birthday. Sure, it wasn't celebration the way most people would celebrate with cakes and candles and brightly wrapped presents, but to me, this was the best birthday celebration I had ever had. No unnecessary people, no loud music, no balloons, no party food, just me, Angel and a cloudless night.

"Bet you can't tell me you don't like birthdays now," said Angel, hand running absentmindedly through my hair.

"Of all the things, this is the last thing I expected," I said honestly.

"I am pretty surprising," Angel agreed.

His marked hand found mine and he laced his fingers through my own. We'd experimented with this already. What happened when our marks touched? To me, there was no other feeling like it. It was one thing for us to have this warrior's bond, to have access to each others thoughts and feelings all the time, but this was far different. It was beyond relaxing. It was almost blissful. The best way I can describe it is being one half of something and coming together with the other half. It felt like we were a whole. And this doesn't even really touch on how it felt like. Plain and simple, words couldn't describe the happiness and content I felt at that moment. Angel said it was as close to true happiness as he was able to get. I was happy with that.

"Angel?"

"Mmm?"

"When I'm old and wrinkly and you're stuck at twenty-one, will you tell me that I'm not old and wrinkly?"

Angel chuckled and kissed the top of my head.

"For the rest of eternity," he whispered.


	45. Blood Ties

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Alrighty, so recently I've been watching a bit of True Blood, so please forgive me for the references. I don't mean to, it just sort of...happens. With anything that I've watched, or read, which is why there are usually references within my work. So, I hope you enjoy and once again, forgive my references, please...unless, of course, you can't pick them, and in that case, there are no references to anything and it's all entirely from my amazing mind...**

* * *

**_"...he's a silent guardian, a watchful protector...a dark knight." - Jim Gordon (The Dark Knight)_**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY**

"You don't believe in much, do you?"

"I believe in power. I believe in taxes. I believe in darkness. I believe in evil. I believe in corruption," said Mirany. "Five things that have, and will always, exist."

"You're saying you don't put faith in anything? When you're in trouble you don't think about something that could save you?" Angel asked.

"Even if God was real, he clearly has a beef against me," said Mirany pointedly. "Do I look like someone who's been 'touched by the Lord'? Why would I put my faith in a fictional character who probably wouldn't like me anyway?"

"That wasn't really answering my question."

Mirany looked up at him.

"I know."

* * *

Mirany yelled as she woke up and hit at my chest and arms.

"Mirany! Mirany! It's okay! You're okay! It's me Mirany!"

I grabbed hold of her wrists and held her out at arms length so that she could get a good look at me. Her breathing and heart rate slowed until she was functioning somewhat normally.

"It was the same, wasn't it?"

Mirany blinked.

"No."

...

"It was like...some sort of vampire orgy or something," said Mirany.

"A vampire orgy? Mirany, there's a difference between _wanting_ a dream to come true and _knowing_ that it's going to come true," said Connor.

Mirany glared at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"You're a fang banger," said Connor simply.

Mirany and I both growled at him.

"Watch your mouth!" Mirany snapped.

"Before someone sews it together," I threatened.

Connor shrugged.

"Just stating fact," he muttered.

"Recognise any landmarks?" I asked.

Mirany shook her head.

"I didn't recognise the girl they were chomping on either."

"What about the vampires?" asked Connor.

"Oh yeah, because I leave most of the vampires I see alive so that they can go and kill more people," Mirany snapped sarcastically. "No I didn't recognise them!"

"If you saw them again, humans or vampires, do you think you would recognise them?" I asked.

"Probably," Mirany muttered, "I wouldn't bet anything major on it though. Why? Got some mates that are interested in this sort of thing or something?"

"You're hilarious," I said. "No, but I do know someone who could help us out."

"Well, let's go then," said Mirany, jumping to her feet. "What do we need? Knives, stakes, swords, what'll work for threatening?"

I took hold of her shoulder and pushed her back down on the couch.

"I think I should go alone. Then if he knows something I can bring you back there."

"Why?" Mirany demanded. "You just said you wanted me to see if I would recognise someone!"

I winced slightly.

"I...this place is...this guy is...it's complicated."

Mirany's eyes flashed dangerously.

"Don't you dare 'it's complicated' me Mr. I-Want-to-Hear-Everything-You-Think-is-Complicated. Why is it complicated?"

I bit my lip.

"I just don't want you hurt."

"Angel..."

"Oh for god's sake dad, do you really think she's not gonna get herself hurt anyway?" asked Connor. "She's...Mirany."

Mirany scowled at him. I sighed.

"It's sort of...a vampire bar," I said uncomfortably.

Mirany blinked.

"A...a vampire bar. You do remember the last time I was in a vampire bar, correct?"

"Not the same...exactly," I said. "It's more human friendly."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that humans go in and out freely, just with a little less blood and cash," I said "It's the sort of place that people go to so that they can get bitten by vampires, who love places like it because they get easy cash and free meals."

Mirany looked fairly disturbed by my 'free meals' idea.

"Why would anyone want to get bitten by vampires?" asked Connor. "That's just down right wrong."

"Apparently, it's actually a fairly common occurance," said Wesley, coming down the stairs. "You two have only ever experienced vampires that want to kill you, as far as being bitten goes, if you've been bitten at all. But when a vampire bites without intent to kill, apparently it can be very...stimulating."

"You mean...people get bitten in order to get turned on?" asked Mirany. "What is wrong with the world?"

"According to you, everything," I said. "It's almost always voluntary. Either vampires choose from the pool of people waiting at the bar, or they go out, find someone particularly special for some reason, and might even do it for free. But to bite someone without sucking them dry takes an extraordinary amount of control. You're the Slayer. Even with the bonds we have 'tainting' your blood, not to mention the whole wolf thing, you would still be unlikely to make it out of there alive."

"However if you really wanted to go," said Wesley, "Angel could claim you."

Mirany scoffed.

"Yeah, because saying 'she's mine' to a crowd of hungry vampires always works," she said sarcastically.

Wesley and I didn't reply. She blinked.

"Does it?" she asked.

I scowled at Wesley.

"Sorry," he said. "Were you trying not to get her to come?"

"Yeah, it kind of works," I admitted. "It's not like I'll say it and magically no one can touch you, but, particularly in a place like this one, it's the sort of thing that's respected by vampires. You go out and find the meal, you have the right to eat it."

"Will you please stop calling humans meals?" Mirany snapped. "And why weren't you going to tell me this?"

"Mirany, it's not set in stone! And you being the Slayer, this would be the sort of time that vampires might ignore that sort of rule!" I said somewhat desperately, but I knew I had lost. No thanks to Wesley.

"Angel. You are taking me there, and you are taking me now," Mirany said firmly.

I swallowed. She'd decided. I wouldn't be able to talk her out of it now.

"Sundown," I sighed. "We go at sundown."

...

I didn't want Mirany here, and she knew it. There was something about the frostiness between us in the car.

"So vampire bites can-?"

"Yes."

"So you could-?"

"I suppose so."

"Why haven't you-?"

"I wouldn't stop."

I felt Mirany's shock before I felt realised that probably wasn't the best thing to say. I pulled over as I sighed, turning to her. Mirany wouldn't look at me.

"Mirany, it's not that I don't want to. In fact, that's exactly my problem. I do want to. With...every fibre of my body. So if I did...Mirany, I wouldn't be able to stop. I wouldn't be able to control myself. I'd kill you without even meaning to."

Mirany blinked and looked up at me.

"No you wouldn't," she said quietly.

"What? How can you-?"

"Do you remember when we were about to interrupt Aedus in his ceremony thing?" she asked. "You asked if I believed in anything."

"You said you didn't."

"No," she said. "I said I didn't believe in God."

I was confused.

"Mirany, I don't-"

"You, Angel. I believe in you."

She looked at me with the most innocent, almost pleading, look I had ever seen her wear.

"But I'm just...me?"

"Well, yeah Angel. Why wouldn't I? I mean, you're the only thing that I can continually rely on," she said. "When I need help, why wouldn't I think of you? You're my hero Angel."

She smiled, slightly embarrassed.

"My dark knight."

I had no idea what to say.

"We're here," I said dumbly, gesturing at the club a few buildings down.

Mirany got out of the car but I just sat for a moment. This hadn't really been the way it was supposed to be. I...I hadn't meant for it to happen like this. But I suppose I should have seen it coming. The saving her from herself. The blood bond. The warrior's oath. It all added up perfectly. I just hadn't seen it. Where had my instincts gone? I have someone completely, completely reliant on me and believing in me. And not just a part of me. All of me. Every last part of me. Even the worst parts. How could I let myself fall into this? How could I let her fall into this? I knew the answer to that. Love. I let myself fall into this because of love. Love. Gotta love it.

"Angel? Are you coming?"

...

The only time I ever branched out into vamp face mode was when I was threatening something or fighting, and I very, very, very rarely did so in front of Mirany, but here I had to. Mirany didn't show it, but it erked her. The moment we walked in, heads turned. Only vampires generally, though there were some humans that gave us a once over as well. I could see the thoughts in their eyes, but for now, they weren't making a move. Most here this early already had someone with them.

"This...isn't what I imagined," said Mirany, skirting around a girl who was wildly grasping at the two male vampires that were biting into her. "And yet, somehow it's exactly what I imagined."

"Just stay close," I said quietly, pulling her closer to me as we moved further in, where the humans became sparse but the vampires existed in large numbers. They were the ones waiting for the lonely humans to walk through the doors at the back.

I led her towards the stairs at the back, where, at the top of them, would be Thames. A vampire 'pimp' in a way. But if anyone would know anything, it would be him. We just had to get to him without anyone getting killed. And that was going to be a problem. The vampires around here were watching us closely, waiting for me to either claim and bite Mirany, or hand her over. And I would have to bite her. I couldn't just claim her. I wouldn't be able to get her out of the room without doing it. I pulled her away from them a little and pushed her into the wall. She read my expression all too clearly, even with my fangs in place. She swallowed slightly.

_It's okay Angel. Do it. I get to hit you later though._

I turned around to glare at the nearest vampires, who were closing in.

"Stay away," I growled. "I found her. She's mine."

Thank my lucky stars the vampires in this place had some idea of respect, even without souls, and they backed off, but they continued to watch carefully. I turned back to Mirany, who nodded very, very slightly. I lent into her and kissed her fiercely. Mirany ran her hands up into my hair as I began licking my way down to her jugular. I paused.

_Angel. You will stop. I know you will._

I don't know where she got this idea of absolute faith in a vampire from, but it was all I needed. Then I gave in. Mirany's fists closed tightly in my hair and she gasped and arched into me as I drank. I slammed my fist into the wall beside her, leaving a hole in the brick. I had tasted the blood of a Slayer before. In fact, I'd tasted the blood of several Slayers before. But not like this. The raw power in this blood was far bigger than anything I'd ever experienced and i was eing filled with it. No wonder the wall had come away in my hand. But it wasn't just the strength. There was something else, something I couldn't identify. Something I hadn't tasted, or even felt before. Something amazing. I'd describe it as the best taste in the world, but that wouldn't even begin to cut it. This was beyond that. This was...this was Mirany's blood. A new blood type. An amazing blood type. The sort of blood I could drink forever.

But I couldn't. Mirany was too far gone to be able to stop me. I had to stop myself. I had to stop. I _had_ to stop. When Mirany's grip loosened just a little and she gave off a tiny sigh, that was it. I had to stop. I tore away and looked at the ground, not wanting to meet her eye. Not yet anyway. Mirany slid down the wall and sat at my feet. At least the vampires were really gone now, though I heard the whispers and the sniggers from a few.

Mirany was seriously pale. Blood was trickling from the bite on her neck and pooling into her collar. She was panting hard and shaking slightly, a stunned expression on her face. I licked the last remaining traces of bloodv from my fangs and mouth. I took her hand and pulled her to her feet, draping her arm over my shoulder.

"Come on."

I led her up the stairs and banged on the door at the top.

"Come in honey."

"Sorry I'm late, sweetie," I snapped, pushing the door open with my foot.

There was about seven vampires lounging in the room, with Thames seated almost directly opposite the door. Thames was one of those guys you really couldn't miss. He was currently wearing a bright green suit with blue glitter painted all over his face and any visible skin in swirling patterns. His eyes, unlike normal vampires, were not yellow but vibrant green, and his shoulder length hair was died a platinum blonde. Mirany grasped my shirt tightly.

_Some of these vampires. Some of them were there._

"Angel! What a surprise! I didn't expect to see you here for a while. At least, not in this capacity."

Thames looked over Mirany hungrily and I growled at him, while taking careful notice of Mirany's head as she scanned over the vampires. The three in the far left corner, they were the ones Mirany was flagging. I kept an eyes on them as I addressed Thames.

"She's mine," I told him angrily.

"Clearly," said Thames, smirking. "Don't worry honey, I don't want her. She reeks of wolf and you. Way to turn a Slayer bad Angel."

"I don't reek," Mirany said weakly.

Thames' smirk increased in intensity.

"I like her. She has guts. Leave us."

The vampires in the room all grumbled their displeasure but got up and pushed roughly past me and Mirany, including the vampires that Mirany had pointed out.

_Angel, they're leaving._

_I know. I know. Brydan?_

_How do you do that? How do you always know when I'm listening?_

_Doesn't take a genius to figure out when you listen Brydan. Anything that might be sexual or have some sort of action involved._

_Fine, I'll keep an eye._

_Thank you._

"Lie her down Angel. She looks dead on her feet."

"You're one to talk," Mirany muttered.

Thames chuckled.

"Where did you find this one then hon?" he asked me as I laid Mirany down on one of the couches in the room.

"In a graveyard, killing people," I said casually.

Thames sniffed.

"Was it quite so...wolfy at the time?" he asked with distaste.

"_It_ has a name, and gender!" Mirany snapped. "And for your information-"

I clapped a hand over her mouth before she got herself killed.

_Hey! I was only going to give him a piece of my mind. Wasn't gonna be that bad._

_Bad enough._

"But honestly Angel, what happened to your control? I heard you down there, trying to make the wall collapse. You used to be so good at just taking a little. Look at _her_. She's a mess."

He emphasised the 'her' for Mirany, who looked a little more satisfied now that she wasn't just a possession.

"Unless..."

Thames took hold of my hand gently and turned it over.

"Oh Angel, Angel, Angel. What have you done?"

He kissed my palm and smirked when Mirany growled.

"Down pup," he said.

_Don't panic, he's been this way for a while._

Mirany glared at him.

"My name is Mirany."

Thames dropped my hand and crouched in front of her, running a pointed, sparkling, nail along her hairline and down her jaw. Mirany stood her ground but I was on full alert. Thames could get mean, fast. And it didn't take a whole lot to do so.

"You are such a refreshing young girl. I could finish you off right now, and you know it, but you don't seem to care."

"I don't, because I know you won't," said Mirany, trying to push herself up but I held her in place. It probably wouldn't have the sort of effect she was hoping for if she ended up fainting from blood loss. "Angel won't let you."

"Faith in a vampire. You're not a very good Slayer, are you?"

"I'm an excellent Slayer."

_Hmm, how about we just go with good Slayer?_

_Good? If I didn't know better, I wouldn't even have begun to bet that she was the Slayer. She hasn't patrolled in ages._

_Brydan, go away._

_Ooh, not very friendly._

_Oh, leave her alone Brydan. She's just grumpy because the mean old vampire is hitting on her boyfriend._

"No offence, but in my experience, excellent Slayers don't put themselves in unnecessary danger. They know only to put themselves in danger if it needs to be done."

Mirany was working so hard to keep herself from retorting out loud to me that she couldn't open her mouth to retort at Thames. Since he was unaware of our mental conversation, he assumed he'd won. He swiped a finger along Mirany's neck, covering the finger in the blood pooling around the bite and sniffing at it.

"Angel, you truly have tainted what would once have been an amazing meal," he muttered, wiping his finger on Mirany's shirt.

_Why I ought to..._

I tuned out of Mirany's ranting and focused on Thames.

"Do you know anything about some more...unfriendly blood drinking going down?" I asked him.

"Angel, vampires attack humans every night. Just walk around for a little while. You'll come across something," said Thames, settling back into his seat.

"Organised," I said.

"Angel, I run a business, not orgies. Why would I know anything about it?"

"Because your cronies are the ones that organised it," Mirany snapped.

"Oh, she's found her tongue again," said Thames coolly. "Careful pup, or I might rip it out."

"She's not lying," I said. "That's why she's here."

"Ah, Slayer powers," said Thames tonelessly. "You recognise my vampires then wolf?"

"Mirany!" she snarled.

"Heel!" Thames snapped. "The only reason you're even allowed to speak in my presence is because I respect Angel. I do not respect you and I don't appreciate you accusing my trusted associates of things we here are against!"

"Back down and shut up," I hissed at Mirany.

Mirany glared at me but fell silent. She'd changed in her anger, and her fangs cut into her lip as she bit down on it to stop herself from responding.

"You ought to keep better control of your charge Angel. She's going to end up getting you killed," said Thames.

"Thames, while she may be...insufferable sometimes, she is telling you the truth. I'll swear on it."

_Hey!_

_It's true!_

"Angel, swearing on something is what landed you in your position in the first place," said Thames, somewhat amused. "Now, I'm not giving you anything until you give me something."

"Thames, you don't even like her!" I said indignantly.

Thames rolled his eyes.

"I don't want the dog," he said. "But I can see _your_ want."

"My..."

My voice trailed away when I realised what he wanted.

_Angel, what's he saying?_

"If I do it again, she won't live to tell the tale," I said truthfully.

"Oh, I don't just want you to have her Angel," said Thames, and I understood right away. So did Mirany.

"No," she said at once, sitting up and pushing my hand away when I tried to make her stop. "No."

"I see you still need to go to puppy school," Thames commented. "Do as your told, and you'll get your reward."

Mirany looked like she was going to be sick as she flopped back down onto the couch. She was basically being ordered to do something she absolutely hated, and she knew that she couldn't get out of it.

_It's just a little Mirany._

_I won't do it. I won't._

_We don't have a choice._

Mirany gave me a somewhat begging look, but she knew perfectly well that it was going to happen.

"You two are wasting my time," said Thames. "Do you want your information or not?"

Mirany was chewing on her tongue.

"Fine," she muttered. "Fine."

Thames smirked.

"Good dog."

Mirany looked like she was seriously considering attacking him, but I lent right over her to stop her from trying.

"Ready when you are," said Thames mockingly.

My tongue flicked out to clean the bite of the blood around it as Mirany swallowed.

_It's alright. Just ignore him. It's just us._

Mirany closed her eyes and raised her mouth to my neck. Almost as though we'd practiced it, we bit down at the same time, and together, we were lost.

I don't know how long we lay there. As long as Mirany was drinking me, and I was drinking her, neither of us could have a shortage of the stuff. We both just absorbed it right into our blood stream almost the moment we took it in. But I knew when we'd gone too long. When Mirany began to taste like me, and I could tell I was beginning to taste like her. I came away from her with an effort, blood dripping from my fangs slowly, and kissed her hard, running my tongue over her fangs, tasting a mixture of her blood and mine. I couldn't deny it. I would be begging for this again soon.

Thames' chuckling brought us both smashing back to reality and I jerked away from her as though I'd been burned.

"I don't know how long you meant to go for, but I can guarantee that you went longer."

"Thames, we did what you wanted," I said forcefully, standing up, giving Mirany the space she needed after doing that. "Tell me where. Tell me who."

Thames was opening laughing now.

"I don't think so. I mean, that was fun but seriously-"

I grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall.

"You don't seem to understand," I growled. "We did what you asked. Now you are going to tell me what you know."

This is exactly why Thames 'respected' me. He was scared of me. He didn't exactly work out, and this wasn't the first time that I was in a perfect position to kill him if I wanted to.

"Alright, alright, don't get your knickers in a knot," Thames muttered.

I released him and let him find his feet again.

"I might have overheard the three that were sitting in the corner over there before talking about a party of some sort. I swear I didn't know what they were actually planning! I only thought it was a little strange because they usually don't talk to each other, let alone plan to go out together."

Why hadn't I done this earlier? Was I going soft?

"Where?" I growled.

"A place, about a block away," said Thames, scribbling down the address and shoving it in my hand.

"Good," I said. "Now, before we go, apologise to my Slayer. I don't think she liked being treated like a dog!"

Now I was just being cruel. What an insult it must have been to Thames to bow his head as Mirany got to her feet and mutter a toneless apology. But it was probably worse when I wasn't satisfied.

"I don't think she heard Thames. Once more with feeling."

Thames gave me such a murderous glare that I was sure the next time I came here I was likely to be greeted by a stake.

"I'm sorry for treating you badly," he said, his jaw clenched.

Mirany smirked.

"Don't look too put out," she said pointedly.

"Come on," I said. "Let's not push our luck, shall we?"

I gestured her out the door, and, grinning at a livid Thames, left the room, closing the door in his face.

_Brydan?_

_You know that address that he gave you. They're already here. It's not looking very pretty guys._

_Think you can hold them off?_

_I can try._

...

I snarled as I got hit across the face with the butt of a glass bottle.

"Oh you'll pay for that."

"Doubt it."

I leapt at the vampire and smashed him to the ground. My hand closing around the stake I had dropped earlier, I hit the vampire in the face to subdue him slightly before ramming the piece of wood home.

"Angel, duck!" Brydan called.

I flattened myself to the floor as a vampire flew into the wall opposite me, and I took the chance to stake her as she slid down the wall, dazed. I turned to see Mirany yell as the last of the vampires grabbed her by her hair and threw her into the floor and pin her with a leg. Before he could do anything else though, Brydan had stepped in, a piece of broken chair in his hand, driving the stake through the vampire's back.

"You alright?" I asked Mirany, helping her to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mirany sighed, spitting a mouthful of blood away. "Little beat up, but I'll live. Way to go Brydan. Nice throw there."

"You threw that vampire?" I asked him. "I'm impressed. You didn't really have the hang of it last time we tried stuff like that."

"He's been practicing," Mirany muttered. "On me."

"Well who else was I going to practice on? Nobody else is stupid enough to agree to it," said Brydan pointedly.

"I'm not stupid! I just didn't want you throwing my employees around the gym like ragdolls! It's not the sort of thing they put up with for very long and I hate finding new people!"

"Oh please. You thought I wasn't going to be able to do it and that you'd get a laugh for the afternoon," said Brydan.

"Can we please call a halt on the bickering for a little while?" I asked. "I thought you two were adults. Not to mention best friends."

"I may be an adult in body, but not mind," said Brydan.

"Brydan, you don't need to tell us. It's kinda obvious," said Mirany.

I frowned at her and she shrugged.

"I'm sorry but the opening was there," she said.

"You got the girl home right?" I asked Brydan.

"Yeah, she's fine. She's a little shaken, but she'll live to see another day."

"Then let's go home," I said.

...

Mirany turned the TV off angrily.

"That is not true on so many levels," she muttered. "Just because we're rich doesn't mean that we're mean."

She scratched at Maia's ears.

"Isn't that right?" she asked the dog.

Maia barked in apparent agreement and Mirany took up a tennis ball, throwing it into the next room for Maia to chase. Brydan had been so right to get her a dog. It had really opened up a whole side of Mirany that had otherwise been left very tightly closed away in a corner of her mind. And besides, they seemed to have connected on a level slightly less human anyway. Mirany didn't ever need to tell Maia off. The pup just seemed to know what was right and what was wrong. I could only assume that it was to do with Mirany being half-wolf.

I hadn't said much to Mirany since last night. I was scared that if I opened my mouth all that would come out is wonderment at the way her blood had made me feel, and probably a small amount of begging to do it again, and I knew perfectly well that Mirany would not be pleased with that. So I had only answered direct questions, in as little syllables as possible. The less I spoke, the less chance I had of saying something stupid. But Mirany was over it. She'd been trying to get me to talk to her properly all day, until I'd finally felt her in my head, then she'd stopped trying and settled instead for mindless TV. It probably hadn't helped that I had tried to get ehr out of my head as quickly as possible and ended up really just thinking even harder about it.

But the events of last night weren't all that I was thinking about. Mirany's confession in the car, that had gotten to me. It was, in some ways, the best thing I could possibly hear coming from her mouth. She had, without a doubt, changed so much since we had first met. She'd hated every inch of me once, now she believed in me, unconditionally. But I wasn't all good. There was a seriously bad side to me, and she knew it. But she still believed. Is this...is this what faith is? To know that the person you believe in has done terrible, terrible things, and could do them again, but still you believe that they are, wholly, good?

"Angel, I know you have the single most amazing ability to brood about anything until you've boiled it down into every little component that you can, but, and I can't believe I'm going to say this, it's seriously frustrating not hearing you say it," said Mirany. "And I know, I know, you have to wrestle every single piece of information from me when I'm in this sort of mood, but what you're brooding over involves both of us. So do you think that maybe you could open your mouth and speak to me properly? Please?"

I frowned at her.

"Mirany, it's-"

"Angel, if you are about to tell me that it's complicated, I will have to hurt you. Badly," said Mirany firmly.

I fell silent. Mirany sighed and pulled herself off the floor and onto the couch beside me.

"You won't scare me," she said softly. "It's not as if I don't know what you felt, because I do Angel. Perhaps you've forgotten, but I feel everything you do."

She was right of course.

"I've never felt anything like it. It was amazing," I confessed. "I don't know how to...it...it scares me. We went far enough that typically, you'd be a vampire. I don't even know how you're not. And I don't want to risk doing it again if it means that something terrible might happen to you. But, I want it so much and I..."

I let my voice trailed away.

"If I might share my insights," said Mirany, "don't you think that maybe the reason I'm not a vampire is because of the warrior's bond and the whole being bound by blood and soul and spirit thing? Wouldn't that sort of mean that we are the same? That no matter how much we mix blood, it won't affect us?"

That made sense, in a way. The idea that even though we were different people, with different blood, we were more or less one person in two bodies. At least, I hoped that's what she was saying.

"It's not on the top of my 'To Do Again' list," she continued slowly, "but, I still need your blood, so, I don't really see the harm in you needing mine."

"But I don't-"

"Angel, if you want to do it again, I am giving you the opportunity but that is how I am going to have to think of it," she said firmly. "So, do you need it, or not?"


	46. Troubles From Within

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**So, there are some people, who shall remain nameless, that have been trying to get me to write a Connor chapter, so I finally decided to take the plunge and do it. This one is for you guys, you know who you are.**

**Also, three quotes for this one because I just couldn't decide. The first two are the more fitting ones for the chapter, the third is subplot, but I felt it was necessary to mention as well. So, three quotes.**

**Enjoy and review.**

* * *

_**"For all the sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are 'it might have been'." - John Greenleaf Whittier**_

_**"Why am I afraid to lose you when you're not even mine..." - Anonymous**_

_**"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons." - Woody Allen**_

* * *

I really, really, really just wanted to go home. It was cold, I was tired, Angel wasn't here to amuse me, and to top it all off, Bella dumped Connor yesterday and I was the lucky winner who go to hear all about how heart-broken and angry he was. I'm his ex for God's sake. I'm not supposed to be burdened with his crap, and he knew that perfectly well. I good see it in his eyes. He was enjoying this. Enjoying seeing me suffer.

"And to think that-"

"Connor! I have an axe and I'm about to drive it straight through your skull! Shut up!"

Connor looked slightly amused.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realise I was boring you," he said.

"Boring isn't quite the right word for it," I said coolly.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not bored, I'm homicidal."

Connor rolled his eyes.

"You don't have to be so melodramatic," he said. "And besides, it's not as if I'm forcing you to listen. Walk away if you don't want to hear."

"I've tried that! You followed!" I said indignantly.

"Then why didn't you just tell me to shut up sooner?" asked Connor.

"Because I was busy plotting your death," I growled. "Connor, I don't care. Go tell Cordelia. I'm sure she'd soak it all up. Why aren't you talking to her?"

"Well, she's not here, is she?" asked Connor pointedly.

I frowned at him.

"Why are you ranting about it anyway? You were dumped. You're not supposed to be angry, you're supposed to be sad and mopey and annoying because you won't say a word."

"But either way I'm going to be annoying?" asked Connor.

"Yes."

"Then why do you care which way I'm annoying?" asked Connor.

"Because the constant talking thing isn't like you. You're a moper, like your dad."

"You know that how?"

"Because you moped forever when we broke up."

Connor snorted softly.

"You're wrong," he said. "Ask Angel or Wesley or Cordelia. I didn't mope. I smashed things."

"Oh, you're the violent type," I said, intrigued. "You know, that makes sense actually. You looked like you were going to murder me the first time we talked again."

"That's because I was," said Connor coolly.

"Why did I agree to this?" I muttered. "Look, can we go? There's nothing out here."

"No. We're not leaving until I've killed something," said Connor firmly.

I poked my tongue at him while his back was turned.

_Mature._

_Oh thank god. Would you please give me permission to kill him? It'll be doing the world a favour._

_Mirany, grow up._

_I have! He hasn't! And I'm sorry but you have no idea how annoying his ranting is. Why aren't you here to suffer alongside me?_

_Because unlike you, I don't earn money just by existing._

_Well, you should. And besides, this isn't very protector-like of you._

_You can Connor are perfectly capable of going on a patrol without dying._

_I wouldn't count on it. One of us is about to kill the other._

"Are you listening to me?" asked Connor.

"What? I wasn't listening."

Connor scowled at me.

"Fine. I'll shut up. But you won't like me silent and broody."

"Very true. The only person I know who can pull it off is your dad. He can look very, very hot while he's-"

"Shut up!" Connor yelled. "Shut! Up!"

"Whoa, touchy," I commented. "Do we still hold a bit of a grudge, do we?"

Connor had such a mean glare directed at me that I didn't dare press any further.

"Sorry," I muttered.

Connor turned around and stalked away, brandishing his stake violently at any leaf that moved. I followed grudgingly. The problem was, I didn't want to be here, and I certainly didn't want to be with Connor. So any chance I could get to annoy him, I was going to take. Unfortunately, Connor was doing the same for me, and neither of us was really holding back, which meant that sooner or later, we were going to try to kill each other.

I'd lost him. So mixed up in my own thoughts, I hadn't exactly paid any attention to which way Connor was going. I didn't have to search for long though. The grunting and the shouting directed me to my left and I fell into step with Connor as he sparred with at least five vampires. There was no mistaking it. If I hadn't had that little chat with Cordelia those few years back, Connor and I would probably still be together. We worked, almost tragically, for Connor at least, in perfect time with each other. When we fought together, we didn't have to say a word. We just knew what the other wanted to do.

This was what I wanted with Angel, and we were getting there. How could we not, we were basically one person. But everything up to now had been to create this. This idea that we didn't have to say or do anything, that we just knew, without the special abilities. In all truth, it was something that I'd never be able to recreate. Did I ever think about getting back with Connor? About having that sensuality again? Yes, and no. I truly loved Angel, with everything I had, and what we had was unique in itself, even if it wasn't ideal. But at the same time, ideal was what my relationship with Connor had been. And besides, even if I did try to get it back, it wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be the same unconditional love that he had given me before. So, no. I didn't want to get back with Connor. I just wanted what I'd had with him.

I dusted a quickly advancing vampire and got a brick to the face for my troubles, but the vampire that had delivered it was skewered on the end of Connor's stake very quickly. I ducked under Connor's arm as he swung around to send an elbow firmly into the nose of one of the vamps and tackled the unlucky vampire in front of me into a gravestone, knocking him cold. I staked him and turned my attention to the last few vampires. Connor was fighting them both, using one against the other as he ducked away from punches and objects. I came up to the one behind him and staked it as he kicked out the feet of the last vampire and drove his stake through it's heart.

"Thanks," muttered Connor.

"Don't mention it."

I ran a hand through my hair as I looked around. I certainly did not expect any reaction from Connor because of this, but I got one. He grabbed my wrist tightly and stared at my neck.

_Oh crap._

"What is that?" he asked quietly, though it was perfectly clear that he knew the answer.

"Nothing," I said, using my other hand to replace my hair. "Bruise."

"Well, it's a b-word but I don't think it's bruise," Connor growled. "He bit you."

"What? No," I said, trying to be nonchalant. "No. This...this is from another vampire. Who happened to get in close enough to bite me. Angel stopped him."

"You have always been a bad liar but to think you'd be able to try that with me after...you let him."

He looked shocked.

"Connor, it's none of your business!" I snapped, jerking my wrist out of his grip.

"It _is_ my business!" said Connor angrily. "It's my job!"

"No, it's your job to kill the bad vampires," I said firmly. "Not to care about what the good ones are doing to people that can handle themselves!"

"You can't handle yourself! You're-"

Connor caught himself and looked away.

"I'm what Connor?" I asked venomously.

He didn't reply. I hit him. Hard. Connor staggered away, cupping his cheek, taken aback by my actions.

"I'M WHAT?" I yelled at him.

"Nothing," said Connor grudgingly. "Forget it."

He stalked away and I didn't follow.

...

Angel looked exhausted when he walked into the hotel.

"Wow, I thought I'd been on the pointy end of the stick tonight," I commented. "Just so you know, the next time you leave me alone with Connor, I will kill him. Then I will find you, and I will kill you."

Angel gave me a tired sort of glare as he dropped his demon-slime-covered sword onto the floor and moved into his office.

"And you don't care, do you?" I asked as I followed him in.

"No," Angel sighed.

"Alright, what happened?" I asked.

"Slime demon," said Angel, shedding his slime covered shirt and ducking under his desk, bringing up a fresh one from one of the drawers. "And because 'I got there too late' and the guys shirt was already barely touched by slime, he's gonna default."

"Ahh, so you don't look defeated because of the demon, you look defeated because you have no money," I said.

"There's no need to rub it in," Angel muttered. "Cordelia's gonna kill me."

"You know, you could just ask," I said pointedly.

Angel glanced at me before busying himself with his buttons.

"Angel?"

"I'm not going to ask you for money Mirany."

"Angel, I know you're proud but you're not proud enough to let yourself go broke," I said. "It's no big deal. I have plenty of the stuff. How much do you need?"

"Nothing!" said Angel firmly. "I don't need your money!"

I stared at him, confused.

"Why not?" I asked eventually.

"Because I don't need it. I'll find the money."

"This century?" I asked pointedly. "I'm sure that eventually you will find the money Angel, but, and I'm just taking a wild swing here but, don't you need it now?"

Angel frowned at me.

"I won't take your money."

"Fine, don't. Owe me," I said. "Pay me back when you get it if it bothers you so much!"

"Mirany, no. End of discussion," said Angel firmly.

I sighed and opened his door.

"Fine. When you change your mind, just ask."

"I'll be round in the hour," said Angel, ignoring me.

I scowled and left him to it.

...

"What? Couldn't find a baby-sitter that'd take him?" I asked sourly.

Connor pushed roughly past me and went upstairs to find Brydan. Angel sighed as he came in.

"You'd think that you two being adults and all, you'd be able to sort this out maturely," he muttered.

"You know what? I revoke my invitation; you are _not_ allowed in!" I snapped.

"Once invited, always invited. You know that," said Angel, pulling me gently into the lounge room. "So, do you think you can be civil with Connor or are you going to spend the rest of your lives trying to wrong-foot each other?"

"Hey, I didn't start it!" I said indignantly.

"I hate to break it to you hon, but you did," said Angel.

"How?" I asked.

Angel grimaced.

"Oh he's _stil__l_ on about that?" I asked. "For God's sake, the boy needs a life! That was like, two years ago!"

"Mirany, you broke off your engagement, then got together with me, and seeing as I'm his dad, that's gonna leave a wound."

"A wound that hasn't healed in two years?" I muttered darkly.

"Where's Brydan?" asked Connor, coming in. Did his jaw set when he saw Angel's arm around me?

"I don't know," I growled. "Probably out clubbing with his hoard of bimbos. Why don't you go find him? You might find your next girlfriend."

As I was saying this, I didn't notice Angel let go of me and slip out of the room, but I noticed afterwards, and I was going to hurt him when I found him again.

"Bella was not a bimbo," said Connor angrily.

"Oh please Connor. I'm surprised she could stand straight with a chest that big," I snapped. "And that God awful voice! How was that even human? It was like the woman from The Nanny but ten-thousand times worse!"

"Shut up! Leave her alone!" Connor yelled at me.

"Connor, she's your ex now. You're allowed to stop defending her," I said.

"Just because we're not going out any more doesn't mean I should stop defending her against bitches like you!" Connor snapped. "And since we're on the subject of my ex's, why don't we discuss you?"

"Do you dare?" I asked coolly.

"You're letting him bite you," said Connor shakily. "You're letting him suck you."

"He's letting me bite him, I notice you're not angry about that," I said.

"This is ridiculous Mirany! He could kill you! What don't you understand about that?"

"It's gonna be a little hard for him to kill me with the whole warrior thing happening," I said pointedly. "And like I said before, it's none of your business! Why do you care so much about what I let him do? It's not as though I'm your fiancee any more! It shouldn't matter to you! So why does it?"

"Because..."

Connor's sentence fell very short.

"What's the matter Connor?" I asked angrily, getting right up into his face. "Cat got your tongue?"

Connor's eyes were searching my face. I don't know what he was looking for, but if it was some form of weakness, he wasn't going to find it. I was livid. What was it to him what I did with Angel? Nothing. Because it wasn't his problem.

"I..."

"OUT WITH IT!" I yelled at him. "WHY DO YOU CARE?"

"BECAUSE I STILL LOVE YOU!"

I blinked. What? Connor looked almost amused.

"Happy now?" he spat.

"I-"

Connor barely even let me begin, leaving the room without another word. I remained frozen to the spot, staring after him until Angel jerked me out of my trance.

"You did ask," he said from the doorway behind me.

"But...it wasn't supposed to be that!" I said, turning to look at him.

"Mirany, Connor's never stopped loving you," said Angel. "Hell, he probably never will!"

I sat down and ran a hand through my hair.

"How can I not have picked that up?" I asked.

"Well, for one thing, you're you," said Angel, sitting down next to me. "Queen of The Not Caring. For another, Connor hasn't really admitted it to himself until now."

"But of course, you could see it because you're just psychic when it comes to other people's feelings," I said bitterly. "You know, you could use that to make some money. We could advertise you in the paper. 'Don't know what you're feeling? Talk to Angel. He's better than radar!'"

"You're hilarious," said Angel sarcastically. "And extremely bitter today for some reason. It's not just Connor. He doesn't bug you _that_ much."

"No, you're absolutely right. Connor is not all that's bugging me. You know who else is bugging me? You! Because you won't take my money!"

Angel hissed and got to his feet.

"I'm not having this conversation with you again," he said.

"What conversation? We didn't converse. You didn't even consider it. Why not? At least give me that much!"

"I don't need it!" said Angel. "I'll get the money I need, but I won't get it from you!"

"Angel, you know you're dead right? It's kinda hard to loan from a bank when you don't exist," I said pointedly. "And why would you prefer to go to someone who'll either kill you if you don't get them the money back in time, or just drown you in interest rates when you can get it from me? You don't have to worry about me going broke any time soon Angel! If you needed a million dollars I could give it to you with barely a dint in what I bring in a month!"

"I don't need your charity," said Angel coolly.

"This isn't charity Angel," I said firmly. "Because if it was charity, I wouldn't be so angry because you wouldn't be refusing!"

"Mirany, no offence but, I work for my money," said Angel. "That way I can feel like I've actually earnt whatever I might want to buy. Just taking it from you feels...empty. There's no sense of accomplishment. It's just...money."

"Then let me put it this way," I said. "Without you, I would either be dead, locked up in prison or still killing people. I still need you to help me. You're still working on me. And I've never paid you. So it's time that I do. Because let's face it, you really have earnt it."

"Why are you so adamant about this?" Angel asked. "Why are forcing this?"

"Because for once in my time knowing you, you need me," I said, "and this is something I can do. Let me."

"Angel sighed.

"Fine," he said. "But don't you dare even think about giving me a cheque for a million dollars."

...

"Where's Connor?" I asked as I walked into the hotel.

Cordelia looked up at me, surprised.

"Why? I thought you two were fighting."

"We are," I said. "Where?"

"Working out I think," said Cordelia. "Mirany, try not to kill him."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it. That would be too kind," I growled, heading up the stairs to the gym.

I opened the doors and slid inside, watching as Connor beat up a punching bag.

"Your right hook's wide," I commented.

"No, yours is just short," said Connor, stopping to talk to me.

"Seemed to do quite a fine job when it was connecting with your face!" I snapped.

"If all you want to do is fight, you better be prepared to lose," said Connor frostily, turning back to the punching bag.

"Connor, what you said last night, you didn't mean it, did you?"

Connor was taking deliberately slow, spaced out hits, ignoring my question.

"Take it back Connor," I said. "It's not fair, to any of us."

"Life's not fair!" said Connor angrily. "But you learn to live with it. I won't take it back Mirany, because it's true."

"I don't want this Connor! I don't need this!"

"You asked Mirany! You wanted to know, so I told you. Now you want me to take it back? No."

"If you love me, why are you angry at me?" I asked.

"Because I'm scared for you!" said Connor. "I have to be, because apparently you've lost all sense of fear! I don't care what sort of bonds you have with him, he is still a vampire, and every time he bites you, he could kill you! And I don't want to lose you! Especially not to him. Not again."

"It's safe Connor. He's not going to hurt me!"

"He already is hurting you! He was hurting you the moment you first bit him! Vampire blood's not exactly healthy Mirany, and you're addicted to it! And now he's addicted to you! It's just this continuous circle of blood drinking and you're the one that's going to pay the price! He doesn't need blood to live. He's dead. You're not. You need blood. _Your_ blood. And you're just letting take it. And I'm sorry if I'm a little hostile, but I'm worried about you. I don't want to see you hurt."

"Why wouldn't you say something before now? Why didn't you bring this up when you first found out that we had a blood bond? You're going to lay this on me now? What do you want from me Connor? Why now?"

"Because I miss you," he said quietly. "And before now, I didn't think I did."

I stared at him.

"Go to hell."

...

"I have to wonder if you actually know how to make up with someone?" Angel asked.

I didn't reply.

"How could you go from intending to put things right to almost guaranteeing that you'll never talk to him again?" asked Angel.

"It's a talent," I sighed. "Dan! Another."

"Rough day?" asked Dan, placing another bottle in front of her.

"You have no idea," I said grimly.

"Well, you're drinking Corona which is generally your boy troubles drink but you haven't had enough that you've been dumped so...someone has told you that they want you but you didn't want them to and you broke their heart into thousands of tiny shards," Dan deduced.

I glared at him.

"No one likes a reader Dan."

"Not a psychic, just in tune," he said, smirking.

"Mirany, Connor means well, you know he does," said Angel. "And to tell you the truth, he's not the only one that's worried."

"I don't care," I said. "He can take his well meaning shit and shove it right up his-"

"Why does this bother you?" asked Dan. "Why not just soak up the love?"

"The only thing I'm about to soak up is both of your's blood," I growled. "Leave me alone. I'm drinking."

_We have to talk._

"Ah God! Now Brydan's in my head as well! I'm just trying to drown my emotions for one night! Is that too much to ask for?" I snapped.

_Uh...I don't know what you're talking about. I just wanted to know your credit card pin._

_Brydan, do not touch my credit cards._

_You have more than one! Are they all the same pin?_

"Angel, you're a warrior right? Go show Brydan some of your warrior skills," I growled.

_Another time then._

"Mirany, it's not as if I'm asking you to spill your feelings," said Angel. "I already know what you're feeling. I want to know what you're thinking."

"I'm thinking that you all seem to have a death wish!" I snarled. "Leave me alone!"

"Alright," said Dan, looking over at the door. "We'll leave you alone, but will he?"

This couldn't be happening. It truly couldn't be happening. I refused to look over at the door. I knew perfectly well that it was Connor. Didn't take a genius. I didn't know that many regulars at this place. But I couldn't ignore him when he came right up to me.

"Can we talk?" he asked, taking my arm.

I frowned but I couldn't exactly stop him from dragging me over to the booth in the corner and pushing me into the seat opposite him.

"Thought I told you to go to hell," I grunted.

"I did," said Connor. "I sat in dad's office."

I couldn't help but snicker. It was funny, in a way.

"Mirany, I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to put some sort of pressure on you."

"Then why did you say that?"

Connor paused.

"Because I'm worried I'll lose you," he said quietly. "And I know you're not mine to lose but, I'm still scared for you. I just want you to be aware. I didn't mean to insult you or hurt you or anything. I want to be friends again. I want to be able to talk to you without trying to think up some sort of snide comeback."

I sighed.

"You told me you still loved me," I said. "How can I even look at you now without feeling guilty? I'd gotten over that Connor. Now you've brought it back. And it's even worse because some part of me...some part of me feels the same way. But I don't want this."

"I know," said Connor quickly. "I know you're madly in love with dad..."

He took a breath, calming himself when his eyes flashed at the mention of Angel.

"...and I'm not trying to take you away or anything. But please Mirany. I'm sick of the fighting."

I stared at the table as I thought about it.

"I can try," I said eventually. "But don't push me Connor. You've opened up feelings I'd forgotten about. It's going to take time."

Connor nodded.

"I have time," he said.

...

Angel was watching me far too closely for it to be ignored and I shut my laptop roughly.

"What?" I snapped.

"I'm just thinking that no matter what I do and how long I know you for, I'll never figure you out," he said.

"And that required the eagle eyes because...?"

"Well, what else was I going to look at? You're the prettiest thing here."

"You are the biggest suck up-"

He cut me off with a kiss.

"You frustrate me to hell," he said quietly. "You're short-tempered, sarcastic, argumentative, emotionally masochistic yet still stupendously egotistical and you make no sense to me at all, but somehow, by some miracle, I can put up with all of that, because I love you. So when I say that you are the prettiest thing here, I mean it, because I have absolutely no desire to feed any of your worse traits. Everything I say to you is true, it is not sucking up."

"Well, now you've really made me feel all warm inside," I said sarcastically. "What do you want?"

Angel sighed.

"One day, you're going to listen to what I'm saying, and therefore you'll know that I'm not sucking up," he said frustratedly.

"Okay, you're not sucking up," I conceded. "But either way, I'm still giving you this."

I tossed him the briefcase that was sitting beside me. Angel opened it and closed it quickly again.

"How much is in here?" he demanded.

"Fifty thou," I said carelessly.

"Mirany, I don't need this much!" Angel objected.

I stuck my fingers in my ears and hummed loudly. Angel scowled.

_I can still make you hear me._

"Angel, you're taking the money if I have to shove it down your throat," I said. "You deserve it. Being my warrior is no easy feat and you've been helping me for ages and all that is worth soooo much more than that but I knew that you wouldn't accept anything bigger than that and fifty was as low as I was going to go."

"I can't take this Mirany," said Angel, trying to give it back to me.

"Angel! How much money do you reckon you sleep on each night?" I asked him. "Or at least, every night you're here?"

Angel frowned.

"That's different Mirany. You're-"

"Giving you enough money to last you for a while," I said. "Until you get another client."

Angel sighed.

"Angel, you've earnt it, even if you don't think you have," I said. "And if you don't take it, I'm going to give it to Brydan. Do you have any idea how much of a waste of money that is?"

"When I have the money-"

"You won't pay me back because that would basically be denying a pay cheque and Cordelia would _not_ be happy with you. She's not very happy with you as it is. Maybe I should call her again and tell her that you're still refusing-"

"Fine!" said Angel quickly. "You win."

"Don't feel guilty about taking my money Angel. It's not as if I need every cent," I said, getting up and pulling him with me.

Angel sighed and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I still don't understand you," he told me.

"All part of the charm."

* * *

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Just a quick sorry again for all the quotes. You were probably sitting there thinking 'bitch is crazy. I can read one but three?' Also, I know this one jumped around a little bit and it was all a little cut up and I may well have basically repeated whole conversations but with slightly different words, so I apologise. I promise it won't happen all the time...probably.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to review :)**


	47. Lullaby Part 1

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**So, I saw The Hunger Games (amazing, just by the way), which means that if there are any references in this ep, that's where they'll have come from, possibly because I'm obsessed. The quote for this chapter is literally a whole song, which means if this one is a cliff-hanger, which I haven't yet decided, I'm going to carry it through to be the quote for the next one as well.**

* * *

**_"I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go;  
_****_when all those shadows almost killed your light.  
_****_I remember you said 'don't leave me here alone',  
_****_but all that's dead and gone and past tonight._**

**_Just close your eyes, the sun is going down.  
You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now.  
Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound._**

**_Don't you dare look out your window, darling everything's on fire;  
the war outside our door keeps raging on.  
Hold on to this lullaby,  
even when music's gone._**

**_Just close your eyes, the sun is going down.  
You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now.  
Come morning light, you and Ill be safe and sound."_**

**_- Safe and Sound (Taylor Swift)_**

* * *

**PREVIOUSLY**

"Your job is only going to get harder from here," said Sandelle. "You're no longer the innocent child you once were, and the demons you'll fight aren't the simple vampires you used to fight either. Your job as the Slayer will become harsh. The trail will be twisted and dark. You may lose sight of yourself at times. There will be times when you will have to make difficult choices. Know that your choices will influence your final decision."

"What does that mean?" asked Mirany. "Influence my final decision? What's my final decision?"

She really was sounding like she was beginning to believe in the psychic's so called 'lucky guess work'. Sandelle flipped the last card.

"As the Slayer, your final decision will not be easy. A sacrifice will have to be made, and the fate of the world will rest on what you decide. I don't envy you. At all. With great power, unfortunately, comes great responsibility."

...

"I will tell you this. While it was not me who was behind this, it was someone just as, if not more powerful," said Sandelle. "He's revered among us as the best psychic who ever lived. I don't know where he is. All I can tell you is his name."

"Sometimes a name is more than enough," Angel said.

"Aedus," said Sandelle. "Be careful. He likes to play with fire."

Her eyes flashed again and the cards on the table gathered without her touching them and returned to the rest of the deck.

"Take this with you," said Sandelle, handing Mirany a silver necklace chain with a softly glowing stone on it. "It will help you."

"Help me with what?" asked Mirany.

"I wish you luck," said Sandelle, ignoring her question. "I fear you'll need it."

...

Aedus apparated in front of Angel, growling, flames circling him, reaching for Angel. Angel reacted to them with the first thing he could find. Ignoring the burning from the holy water, he threw the large, deep bowl at Aedus. The flames went out as the man was drenched in water. And not just the flames around him. The entire church, which had been going up far too quickly, was put out at the same moment. The stone around Mirany's neck was glowing brighter and Angel wasn't the only one who'd noticed.

"You...you..."

He never finished his sentence. The stone began to shake and beams of light began to come off it at all angles. Aedus did the one thing he could. He disappeared. The stone stopped its violent glowing and went back to the dim light it had been.

...

_All Mirany could see was magic fire. Everywhere she looked was covered in bright purple and blue flames. There were screams from outside the building, calling out for help, and she could hear the sirens of fire trucks, but their water was clearly having no effect. In fact, it was simply spurring the flames to greater heights._

_Mirany could see the flickering silhouette of a man walking towards her, and as he stepped in plain sight, she saw the psychic walk right through the flames and lean over the chair she was tied to. His face was so close to Mirany's that we were almost touching._

_"Let's see how cocky you are after you've been burnt to an inch of your life," he hissed. "You'll tell me what I want to hear Mirany Hunter. You'll tell me even if I have to cut the words right out of your throat."_

_Mirany spat at him and he snarled, a flaming hand whipping up to slap her hard in the face. It burnt like nothing she'd ever felt and he raised his hand again, bringing it down to back hand her this time. The flames around them had finally reached Mirany and the chair and were racing up the wood, and her legs. They flew up her legs to her chest and-_

...

"This is the most powerful psychic this city knows."

...

When Lilah fell, Angel didn't think Mirany even realised what she was doing. It had been like she was moving in a dream, everything automatic. Aedus had backed up, looking far too pleased with himself, and when Mirany pulled the gun from Lilah's belt, he remained right until she shot off ten rounds, emptying the magazine. One thing Angel knew for sure was that she was going to wipe that smirk right off his face one day.

Mirany had forgotten that we were still fighting against demons.

"MIRANY! GET UP! MIRANY!"

She either didn't hear him or didn't care. She held onto Lilah with everything she had, like she was holding her very life. Angel left Connor with one of the few demons that hadn't decided to target Mirany and held them off her. One was unconscious from Mirany throwing it across the room when she'd seen what Aedus had done, and between Connor, Mirany and Angel they'd slain three more. Cordy, Wes and Brydan were trying to land the finishing blow on one, Connor was with the one Angel had left, and Angel was left with the two after Mirany.

Angel ran one through and kicked out at the other, pushing it back, away from the sisters. He could feel Mirany's emotions taking over his own. Anger and grief were coursing through him, almost forcing him to his knees. The flood of emotions was beyond anything he had ever felt before. It was something more than just anger or grief. Something terrifying. A vengeance he'd never experienced. And if Angel was only experiencing _part_ of what Mirany was...he was beyond glad that he wasn't on Mirany's bad side right now.

The demons were all gone, but it didn't feel like a victory, and no one looked like they'd accomplished something. Mirany was curled up around her dead sister. Angel knelt down beside her, fighting back tears of his own, and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Mirany," he said softly. "Let go. She's gone."

Angel tried to pull her away gently but she pushed him away.

"No! No. I won't...I won't leave her!"

Cordelia buried her head in Wesley's shoulder, who had silent tears running down his face. Brydan and Connor stood beside each other, neither saying a word.

"Mirany, there's nothing you can do. Mirany please, Lilah wouldn't want this. Let go."

Mirany looked up at him, her face tear streaked and her eyes red and puffy.

"Why?" she whispered. "Why?"

...

"You are a disgrace to the name of psychics," Aedus growled. "You do _not_ kill with your mind. Control your temper Thomas, or I will."

But Sudbury just turned his rage on Aedus instead. Bad move. Aedus flicked his hand and Sudbury yelled as he was tossed from the window.

"If anyone is going to kill you, it will be me," Aedus muttered. "And it won't be through raw power. It's dishonourable. Prepare yourself wolf. Time to die."

Mirany reacted the only way she could. As Aedus 'heated up', she dived for him, but he disappeared. He reappeared at the door as flames erupted all around her.

...

The pain that Angel was experiencing now was far, far worse than anything he'd ever felt. Every part of him was burning in pain, but he had to work through it. He was not going to let her die. He couldn't let it happen.

"Mirany, no. Come on Mirany."

Mirany coughed violently, gulping down air as though it was going out of fashion. Brydan sat back, panting, while Angel hugged her tightly enough to almost stop her breathing again.

...

"I want you to take a warrior's oath," said Mirany.

Angel's mouth parted slightly in shock.

...

"Per cruor quod mucro nostrum ago vadum exsisto reus. Dum unus est in is Terra sic vadum exsisto ceterus. Nos redimio nostrum cruor facio nos unus."

_Through blood and sword our lives shall be bound. Whilst one is on this Earth so shall be the other. We bind our blood to make us one._

Angel's hand covered Mirany's on the hilt of Excalibur and he squeezed it slightly before he started to take the oath.

"I, Liam Angel, pledge myself to you through blood and sword, and give you my oath that I will guide you, fight with you, and protect you to the best of my abilities as your warrior. If I should fail, or if I should break my oath, I shall give my life to the Powers That Be."

"I, Mirany Hunter accept your warrior's oath."

...

Adeus placed something on the table beside Mirany.

"Celebrate your birthday."

He smirked.

"You won't get another."

...

"Do you remember when we were about to interrupt Aedus in his ceremony thing?" Mirany asked. "You asked if I believed in anything."

"You said you didn't."

"No," she said. "I said I didn't believe in God."

Angel was confused.

"Mirany, I don't-"

"You, Angel. I believe in you."

* * *

I woke up feeling dizzy and looked around the room in a daze. What had happened? How long had I been asleep? What was the time? Ten pm. Why did the time matter? Something...something important was going to happen. When was it happening? Sundown. What time was sundown? Had it happened yet? Everything felt...fuzzy. I couldn't think straight. What was going on? Sundown. Why was sundown so important?

I went into the bathroom and shoved my head under a stream of cold water. I had to think straight. I needed to concentrate. I need to clear my head of that fuzziness. I blinked water out eyes as it ran down my face. Everything was becoming clearer. Aedus. Angel. Brydan. Sundown. I hit my head hard on the spout of the tap as I shot up to look in horror at my reflection in the mirror.

"Shit."

I bolted from the bathroom and ran headfirst into the door when it didn't open at my touch. I paused and rattled the doorknob hard. The door didn't budge. I'd been locked in. Who had locked me in?

"Angel."

I scrambled over to my bedside table and spilled the contents of it all over the floor. The little wooden box Aedus had left me rattled a few metres away. Rattled? It had been empty last time I had checked. I snatched it up and almost broke it in two in my rush to open it. A stone sat there, ruby red and smooth as silk, attached to a chain. Something inside it was glowing very softly. It looked like the yellow stone I had.

I couldn't think about this right now. I had to get to Angel. Before it was too late. Sundown had been hours ago, but I didn't feel any pain. Not yet. I scattered the items on my floor even further apart as I searched for the key to my door, but it wasn't there. He'd taken it. I dashed back to the door and rammed my shoulder into it, putting every bit of force I could muster behind it. My shoulder dislocated, the door didn't. Damn having three inch thick doors. Why did I want that? Breathing raggedly through the pain, I banged on the wood loudly.

"ANGEL! LET ME OUT! ANGEL! ANGEL!" I screamed through the door. "ANGEL! LET ME OUT!"

No one came to the call, Angel or otherwise.

"BASTARD!" I screamed. "SON OF A BITCH! LET ME OUT!"

...

**24 HOURS PREVIOUSLY**

"Wait a second. You were in a dress last night, and you didn't tell me?" asked Cordelia.

I scowled. I knew this was going to be a bad idea.

"Yes," I hissed. "I went and I socialised with people very high up in the food chain and I even convinced Angel to come. And I did _all_ this without needing to consult you on any of it."

"But I'm the only other girl you know!" Cordelia objected. "How do you know that you didn't look terrible?"

"Angel said I looked amazing," I said.

"Angel doesn't have a choice," said Cordelia. "I would have told you the truth."

"Cordelia, she had about seven different guys give her their phone numbers," said Angel. "Do you honestly believe that would have happened if she only looked average?"

"She has more money than most of the countries put together," said Cordelia. "She could have huge glasses, buck teeth and acne all over her face and she'd still be getting phone numbers. What were you wearing?"

"Armani. Black. Skin tight. Cut sides. Quarter leg," I said shortly. "Hair curled, tied in a knot."

"Shoes?"

"Black. Skinny. Two inches."

"Jewelry?"

"Silver chain with a pendant. Diamonds hanging about an inch down. Diamond studded bracelets."

"What sort of pendant?"

I held up my fist.

"Got it made," I said.

Cordelia took a moment as she pictured the whole thing.

"Hair should have been straight only part of it should have been up, but otherwise, not too shabby," she said.

"Cordelia-" Angel started.

"It doesn't matter now Angel," I said, smirking. "It's too late. Can't change the past. Anyway, she's only saying that because she's jealous."

"What did you have him in?" asked Cordelia, ignoring me.

"Black suit. Armani again. There's not a whole lot you can do with him," I said.

Cordelia looked Angel up and down.

"You're right. He's quite the Men in Black sort of guy."

"You two aren't suppose to agree with each other," Angel muttered.

Before either or us could reply, Connor came staggering through the door, covered in blood and barely conscious.

"Jesus Christ," I muttered as Angel jumped to his feet and took his son under the shoulders, all but dragging him over to the couch.

"What happened?" asked Angel.

"I'm fine," Connor mumbled. "Just a scratch."

I unbuttoned his shirt and raised an eyebrow at the slash reaching from his shoulder right down his torso and stomach.

"Yeah, just a scratch," I said sarcastically. "What did you run into, and what's it doing at a graveyard with a swing like that?"

"A psychic," Connor said.

Angel looked up at me.

"Aedus?" I asked.

"Yeah," Connor groaned. "Took the knife right out of my hand. It was like I was frozen or something."

"Why didn't he just kill you?" I asked.

"He wanted me to give you a message," Connor grunted. "He said...he said sundown at Wolfram and Hart. If you don't come, people will die."

I swallowed.

"Get Wesley," Angel ordered Cordelia. "Connor, was there anything else?"

"I don't think so," he moaned. "I don't need Wesley. I'm fine."

"You're not fine," said Angel shortly.

Cordelia came back with Wesley, who hissed.

"I don't know how much I can do Angel. Maybe a hospital would be better."

"Oh yeah, that would work really well," I said sarcastically. "How exactly will you explain the huge gash being there one day and gone the next?"

"Well, I won't be able to help much," said Wesley.

"What about your place?" Angel asked me. "Wes and Jason could-"

I was on the phone before he was done.

_"Mirany, it's ten-thirty. Most normal people are not called out to work now,"_ said Jason pointedly.

"It's an emergency Jase. I need you to break out the medical supplies."

_"How bad?"_

"Bad enough," I said. "And it's not calling you out if you live there. We'll be there in twenty minutes."

_"I'll be ready."_

"He's good to go," I told Angel.

"I don't need anything. What are you doing?" asked Connor weakly.

"Get him in the car. I'll meet you there," I said.

...

I sat down beside Connor's bed. He smiled slightly at me.

"You guys panic too much," he said. "I would have been fine."

"Tell that to your chest," I said pointedly. "How did he seem?"

"Define," said Connor.

"Angry? Happy?"

"Calm," said Connor. "Completely."

"He's always calm. How am I supposed to hurt him if he doesn't react?" I asked. "Every time I see him, he's all composed, even if he's off his head with anger."

"Some people are just weird like that," said Connor.

I took off the necklace I was wearing and put it over his head. It was the necklace with the slightly glowing yellow stone on it. We still had no idea what it was, only that it worked.

"Just in case," I said.

"You'll need it-" Connor started.

"No. I won't. I don't want to ward him away. I just want to get rid of him. Tomorrow, one of us dies, and it's going to be me," I said firmly. "But in the mean time, I don't need him to finish the job he started on you."

"What are you gonna do?" asked Connor.

"I don't know," I sighed. "Hose him down somehow. There's gotta be a way right?"

"Nobody's invincible," Connor agreed. "Trick is finding out what they don't agree with."

We sat in silence for a while.

"You don't have to go, you know," said Connor. "We don't know if he'll come through on his threat or not."

"I can't take that chance Connor," I said. "I'm going."

Connor sighed.

"I would try to stop you but, I know better," he said.

"I'll be alright," I said. "Let's face it. Of everything I've fought, Aedus probably isn't the worst of them."

"Let's just hope he's not the last."

...

_"You are not the wolf."_

_"Sorry to disappoint. She had another engagement."_

_"Well, we can work around that."_

_Aedus' eyes flashed and flames sprung up around Angel._

_"Sit down Angel. Let's have a little chat."_

_Angel didn't move._

_"I didn't come here to talk," he said pointedly._

_"That's sad to hear," said Aedus. "Because I did."_

_Angel yelled in pain as a ball of flame shot at him, bursting open on his chest._

...

I didn't realise that high-pitched scream was coming from my mouth until Angel had pulled me into his chest, rocking me back and forth.

"Shh. Shh. It's okay Mirany. It's alright. You're okay. You're alright."

"Angel. It was you Angel. He had you."

"You're alright," Angel repeated.

Alarm bells rang in my head at once.

"You're planning something," I said. "Angel, don't you dare! You are not going in alone! He wants me!"

Angel couldn't lie. He knew I'd see right through it.

"I can't risk you getting hurt," he said quietly. "I'm going to go instead of you."

"No! Angel, you can't-"

"It's not up for debate!" Angel snapped. "I'm not going to let you walk into another trap. I've had enough of humouring you Mirany! You're going to get yourself killed!"

I was too shocked to reply. Angel stroked my hair gently.

"Try to go back to sleep," he said softly. "It's gonna be alright."

I knew he was lying. Like it could ever be alright. If he went, he wasn't going to come of it it alive. That I was sure of. I didn't get much sleep after that.

...

**ANGEL**

I hated seeing Mirany so distressed, but I wasn't going to let her go. And too bad if she didn't like it. She'd wanted me as a warrior. This is what a warrior did. And no matter what she said, that wasn't going to change. I had to protect her, and protect her I would.

Connor was awake when I came down to see him.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him.

"Not too shabby," said Connor. "Don't know how they're going to pull all the string out of my body now that I'm healed though."

"They're dissolve," I said.

"How's Mirany?"

"Training. Hard. She's getting ready to face him, despite what I've said. Listen, I need you to do something for me."

"You're going, aren't you? Instead of her?" asked Connor.

"I know what you're going to say but-"

"Good," said Connor.

I stopped short.

"What?"

"Let's face it dad. If it was a choice between you and Mirany, I'd choose Mirany," said Connor truthfully.

"You and me both kid," I sighed. "Which is why I'm locking her in."

Connor snorted.

"Good luck with that," he said pointedly.

"When she wakes up, I'll be long gone," I said, ignoring him. "But I need your help. Wait until well and truly past sundown, then take Mirany and go to that chick psychic's place."

"Why? You think she can help?"

"No," I said. "She won't help us. She's too busy helping him."

"What?"

"She his spy," I explained. "She's been feeding him information about Mirany and I."

"How do you know that?"

I bit my lip.

"Not everyone trusts her as much as Mirany does."

"You followed her," said Connor.

"Nah. Brydan did," I said. "On my order, but still."

"You want me to take Mirany to a psychic, get close enough to kill this psychic, then explain to Mirany that she was bad news when Mirany trusts her enough to talk to her about stuff that she isn't even comfortable talking to you about?"

I paused.

"You might want to think up some plan of attack."

...

**MIRANY**

"I'm going Angel. Whether you come or not, I'm going, and you're not going to stop me!"

Angel sighed.

"I guess I can't stop you," he said. "One last drink then?"

I frowned. That seemed too easy. But I wasn't going to complain.

"Sure," I said slowly. "Angel?"

Angel looked around at me.

"Don't be mad. I'm just not going to let this go. I basically saw you die."

Angel smiled slightly.

"I'm not mad Mirany. I understand."

He left the room. Brydan appeared.

"Naw. You two are so cute," he said sarcastically.

"Naw. Shut your mouth bitch!" I snapped.

"Jerk."

"Slut."

"Bastard."

"I think you two need to get your sexes straight," said Angel, coming back in with three beers and handing one to me and one to Brydan. "To victory."

"Cheers."

We drank in silence. I didn't even know Brydan's role in this, but I wasn't complaining. Any back up was good back up. I was feeling really tired. Really tired.

"You look beat," said Angel. "Maybe you should stay. I'm sure I'll be able to handle it."

I wanted to object. Vehemently. But my tongue wouldn't work. It felt heavy. Everything felt heavy.

"Wh id oo...?"

I stopped when I figured out that I wasn't doing myself any favors. I felt funny. I couldn't think properly.

"Come on. You could do with some sleep. You didn't get very much last night," said Angel, taking the bottle from me and taking me under the shoulders, helping me into my room. "Just close your eyes. I'll wake you at sundown, alright?"

_No you won't._

"Go to sleep," said Angel.

His voice sounded far away as I lay down. He brushed my forehead and turned to leave. I tried to reach up and grab him, but my arms weren't working too well. My vision was blurry. He'd drugged me. The bastard had drugged me. It had been too easy. I knew I should have kept arguing.

_Angel...no._

The door closed and a moment later, so did my eyes.

...

I woke up feeling dizzy and looked around the room in a daze. What had happened? How long had I been asleep? What was the time? Ten pm. Why did the time matter? Something...something important was going to happen. When was it happening? Sundown. What time was sundown? Had it happened yet? Everything felt...fuzzy. I couldn't think straight. What was going on? Sundown. Why was sundown so important?

I went into the bathroom and shoved my head under a stream of cold water. I had to think straight. I needed to concentrate. I need to clear my head of that fuzziness. I blinked water out eyes as it ran down my face. Everything was becoming clearer. Aedus. Angel. Brydan. Sundown. I hit my head hard on the spout of the tap as I shot up to look in horror at my reflection in the mirror.

"Shit."

I bolted from the bathroom and ran headfirst into the door when it didn't open at my touch. I paused and rattled the doorknob hard. The door didn't budge. I'd been locked in. Who had locked me in?

"Angel."

I scrambled over to my bedside table and spilled the contents of it all over the floor. The little wooden box Aedus had left me rattled a few metres away. Rattled? It had been empty last time I had checked. I snatched it up and almost broke it in two in my rush to open it. A stone sat there, ruby red and smooth as silk, attached to a chain. Something inside it was glowing very softly. It looked like the yellow stone I had.

I couldn't think about this right now. I had to get to Angel. Before it was too late. Sundown had been hours ago, but I didn't feel any pain. Not yet. I scattered the items on my floor even further apart as I searched for the key to my door, but it wasn't there. He'd taken it. I dashed back to the door and rammed my shoulder into it, putting every bit of force I could muster behind it. My shoulder dislocated, the door didn't. Damn having three inch thick doors. Why did I want that? Breathing raggedly through the pain, I banged on the wood loudly.

"ANGEL! LET ME OUT! ANGEL! ANGEL!" I screamed through the door. "ANGEL! LET ME OUT!"

No one came to the call, Angel or otherwise.

"BASTARD!" I screamed. "SON OF A BITCH! LET ME OUT!"

I slumped against the door.

"You can't do this. You can't do this to me."

I gritted my teeth and pushed my arm back into place, biting back the pain of relocating my shoulder.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME?" I yelled through the door, as if someone might hear me.

I heard Maia whimper from the other side of the door. At least someone cared.

"YOU WANT TO PROTECT ME? I DON'T NEED PROTECTING! YOU DO! HE'S GOING TO KILL YOU! He...he's going to..."

I slid down to the floor.

"I hate you. I hate you."

I was so wrapped up in my hating of Angel, I completely missed the sound of the lock clicking, and wasn't at all prepared when the door swung open. I looked up at Connor from my position on the floor.

"Jeez Mirany. I could hear you from a mile away," he commented.

"Where is he?" I asked.

Connor pursed his lips.

"He's gone, isn't he?"

I kicked the door angrily.

"IDIOT!"

"Mirany, he only did it because-"

"I know. Because he wanted to protect me. He could have just come with me. But no. He had to make sure."

"He'd die if he didn't," Connor pointed out.

"He's going to die anyway!" I said angrily.

"I was kind of hoping you wouldn't be angry," Connor muttered. "Because you aren't going to take my news any better."


	48. Lullaby Part 2

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Part 2. So the last one was almost really more flashback than writing, so I won't even think about flashbacks in this one and just start where I left off. Enjoy.**

* * *

**_"I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go;  
_****_when all those shadows almost killed your light.  
_****_I remember you said 'don't leave me here alone',  
_****_but all that's dead and gone and past tonight._**

**_Just close your eyes, the sun is going down.  
You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now.  
Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound._**

**_Don't you dare look out your window, darling everything's on fire;  
the war outside our door keeps raging on.  
Hold on to this lullaby,  
even when music's gone._**

**_Just close your eyes, the sun is going down.  
You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now.  
Come morning light, you and Ill be safe and sound."_**

**_- Safe and Sound (Taylor Swift)_**

* * *

Sandelle didn't even turn when her door came crashing down.

"Mirany. I've been expecting you."

I pulled the safety on my pistol, pointing it right at her.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

Sandelle turned to face me.

"Now Mirany, put down the gun. They're killers you know. You don't want to kill."

"You know, Connor gave me this gun," I said. "I haven't checked it yet, so, I don't know if they're bullets or blanks or both."

I shrugged.

"Guess I don't care."

I pulled the trigger. The gun went off and Sandelle had a moment of fear, but she didn't topple. The blank had done it's job though. I had been lying, but she didn't need to know that.

"Mirany, I had no choice," said Sandelle carefully.

"Everybody has a choice! You could have lied! You could have given him bogus information! YOU GAVE HIM THE TRUTH!"

"He would have killed me-"

"_I'M_ GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Sandelle shrunk back.

"Mirany, listen to me. If you go there, you will die," said Sandelle firmly.

"Don't even think about telling me that!" I snarled, advancing towards her, waving the gun around haphazardly. "You have no right!"

"Mirany! You don't understand!"

"I do understand! I understand that you're a lying, traitorous bitch!"

"I tried to help you! I gave you the stone! I tried to make you stronger so that you could resist him! I couldn't do any more Mirany! He has my soul!"

I paused.

"Your soul?"

"That got your attention huh? I owed him. He said if I helped him, he would renounce the debt. He owns my soul as a bond."

"I trusted you," I said quietly. "Why didn't you just tell me?"

"Tell you? Ha! I'm only telling you now because I don't care anymore!" said Sandelle. "I'm not _allowed_ to tell you. But it doesn't matter now. I'll be dead the moment I get my soul back anyway. What does it matter who kills me if I'm already dying?"

"What's his plan?" I asked.

Sandelle snorted softly.

"You think he would tell me that? I'm too close to you to be privy to that information. All I can tell you is what his plans have been in the past."

"I know what his plans have been in the past," I said hollowly.

"He'll use fire. And he'll use a lot of it," said Sandelle.

I lowered the gun.

"You wouldn't happen to know what this is, would you?" I asked, holding up the red stone I had discovered.

Sandelle stared at it.

"I thought it was all a myth," she muttered.

"You thought what was all a myth?" I asked.

"Three stones. Red, yellow and blue. If you bring them together, they're supposed to bring the bearer supreme power," said Sandelle.

"Sounds nice. What's the catch?" I asked.

"There is none," said Sandelle. "Finding them is the catch. It took me years to find the yellow stone. Where did you get that?"

"It was a gift," I said shortly. "How would I go about finding the blue stone?"

"I have no idea," said Sandelle simply. "Mirany. Be careful with that. Each stone has a different power, light, fire and water. If you take that to Aedus...well, if he gets a hold of it, he'll destroy everything."

"Why does that yellow stone repel him?" I asked.

"Aedus had devoted his entire life to one element. Fire. But that brings consequences. The any of the other elements have adverse effects on him, even if fire is resistant to the element in question. He's too unbalanced."

"So killing him...?"

"Don't use a gun," said Sandelle. "Why do you think they yell 'fire'? He'll blow it up in your face. The yellow stone I gave you is best if you really want to kill him. Weakening him...put out his flame. He is, more or less, still human, so weapons will work, but he'll never let you get close enough to use them."

I turned to leave.

"Mirany?"

I glared at her.

"Guns may look impressive, but there are better ways to deal with things than shooting at people."

...

"What are you planning to do?" asked Connor. "You have to have a plan Mirany."

"I thought I'd go in, kill people, bring Angel out alive," I said simply, climbing the stairs and banging on Brydan's door. "COME ON YOU GREAT LUMP OF USELESSNESS!"

"That's your plan? What about plan B?" asked Connor. "Seeing as he'll be ready for you to come in and try to kill him."

"There is no plan B. Plan A is flawless. BRYDAN!"

There was no answer.

"I swear if you're having sex I'm going to kill you," I muttered, taking hold of the door handle and shouldering my way into the room. It was empty. "Where is he?"

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say 'with dad'," said Connor.

"Well that's just great," I muttered.

"What did you need him for anyway?"

I held up the red stone.

"I was planning on fighting fire with fire," I said.

"And you needed Brydan for that? Mirany, you were able to use this stone's power without being psychic."

He held up the chain with the yellow stone on it. The stones began to glow brighter. We both yelled and covered our eyes as they both let off a blinding light. The red stone flew from my hand, but I wasn't about to open my eyes to find it. When the glowing outside my eyelids had finally subsided, I opened my eyes again carefully. The floor lay the two stones, fused together into a circular shape. Connor and I looked at each other nervously.

"I don't know about you, but either we just made something very good happen, or something very bad," said Connor.

"I'm rooting for good," I said, picking up the chain. "I guess it's just you and me then."

"Just like the good old days," he said.

I couldn't meet his eye. I knew perfectly well he wasn't just referring to our hunting.

"So, since we're down a player, can we please think of a better plan?" Connor implored as I led him back down the stairs.

"Like what?" I asked, standing over the table, examining the blueprints of Wolfram and Hart. "There's only one way in or out. No matter what we do, he's gonna know that we're there within two seconds. And we still don't know where he will be within Wolfram and Hart."

Connor looked at me. I knew what he was thinking. I had been thinking it myself.

"Lilah's office is too obvious," I snapped.

"Which would be a very good place to go then. It's so obvious you wouldn't look."

I frowned at him.

"He won't be there!"

"Really?" asked Connor. "Or do you just not want him to be there?"

I rolled my tongue over my teeth as I stared at him. It made sense. Lilah's office was high above the ground, like the place I had been in my dreams, and it was a place I didn't want to go. Why wouldn't he go there?

"He's not-"

"Mirany. It makes the most sense. And we only have one shot at this," said Connor firmly. "You were going to have to face her memory eventually."

"I know," I muttered. "I KNOW!"

I banged the table angrily and moved away, kicking the wall with just as much force. Connor took hold of my shoulders and stared straight into my eyes.

"Mirany, listen to me. You're letting your emotions take you over. You need to concentrate. You need to think. Angel and Brydan's lives are on the line here, possibly along with the rest of LA. Mirany, it's time to let go."

I stared at him, feeling tears well up.

"Why did he do this?" I asked quietly. "Why did he leave me here? Why did he go in my place?"

"To protect you," said Connor.

"Because he loves me. How can he leave me here and claim that he loves me when he's just gone to die!" I yelled.

"Loving someone and wanting to protect someone are two different things Mirany," said Connor quietly. "Think about it. He's Angel. Vampire with a soul. Protector of the innocent. Who needs more protecting than a Slayer gone of course? You're the innocent he'll always protect, always, but does he really love you?"

"Well...how could he not...I don't-"

"Let me tell you what happens to Angel when he really loves someone," said Connor. "You know that soul? That was put there by gypsies. But it's not super-glued to him. Perfect happiness. If he gets perfect happiness, he goes evil again. It's happened before. With someone he truly loved. I'm not saying he doesn't love you Mirany, because he does. Like a daughter. He loves you, I know he does, but he doesn't love you that much."

"And I suppose you do?"

"That's not what I'm talking about here Mirany. I don't care who you choose. That's choice is yours to make and yours alone. I'm just tying to make you understand. He's not doing this because he loves you. He's doing this, because he loves to protect you."

I looked away from him and caught a glimpse of our reflection in the window. Since when had he become an adult? Since when had _I_ become an adult? We'd both changed so much since we'd met. I could see it now. I could see how much we'd grown, how mature we looked. But I didn't feel mature. I still felt like that scared little fourteen-year-old who just gotten superpowers. As Connor had grown up, he'd grown up in body _and_ mind. My mind had stuck seven years ago. How did Connor, the cheesy teenager I'd once known better than the back of my hand, know these things, whileI hadn't even picked up the slightest hint? I was _inside_ Angel's head and I _still_ hadn't noticed a thing.

'Love makes you blind' someone had told me once. How true that now rang.

"Now you have to pull it together Mirany," said Connor fervently. "You _have_ to stay strong. You don't need protection. Not this time. This time, _you're_ the one that needs to do the protecting. And I know you can do it because I've seen it. I've seen you rise up against all odds to protect someone, or something. Mirany, when you put your mind to something, you can achieve _anything_."

I looked back up at him.

"How can you believe in me so strongly?" I asked.

"Because I've experienced everything you've gone through, and it hurts, but you live with it. You take it, and take it, and fall, and fall, but you always get back up again. Because you're stronger than whatever they throw at you. So, suck it up, pull it together and face your fears! Because you can! Hell with a plan! You're Mirany Hunter! You're the strongest girl on the planet and you don't take crap from anyone! Aedus is playing you! He went and killed your sister and now he has the nerve to use her office to trap you! He thinks he can win!"

He paused.

"Clearly, he doesn't know you very well."

...

**ANGEL**

I yelled in pain as the flames burst on my chest, embers landing all over me, burning at my skin like nothing I'd felt before.

"When are we going to co-operate Angel?" asked Aedus. "I've tried being civil. When that didn't work, I tried a few...persuasive techniques."

He glanced down at Brydan, who was lying on the floor at his feet, barely conscious, groaning in pain after having his mind probed by the psychic. He had burns running down his arms and face, and he was bleeding from cuts across his chest.

"I've moved on to torturing you. And still you won't co-operate. What is it that you're hoping to achieve Angel? You're going to die, whether you talk to me or not. I'm going to kill you and everyone around you. I'm sure not all of them will be a tight-lipped as you are."

"I'm not tight-lipped," I grunted. "You just don't like what's coming out of my mouth."

"Angel, I'm only going to ask you one more time. After that, I cannot be held accountable for my actions. Where is the wolf?"

"That would depend on what type of wolf you're looking for. After all, there are quite a few. Arctic, red, grey, European- AH GOD!"

I screwed up my face in pain as he attacked my mind, sending virtual knives right through my skull.

_"Aedus."_

The pain in my head stopped as the PA turned on, but my heart sank like a stone. Mirany was here.

_"Listen to me very closely, because I will only say this once. First of all, let me commend you. You've taken from me everything that I really cared about. Well done. Except now you have yourself a problem. Can you guess what it is?"_

"God Mirany, what are you doing?" I muttered.

_"See, I came here alone. No plan, no back-up, and no weapons that you wouldn't be able to melt with a thought. Oh, and one other thing, I have nothing to lose. So whatever you're doing up there, take a moment to think. I'm coming up there with nothing to lose. Nothing stopping me from falling into that abyss. And when I do, oh, when I do, you are going to be very, very sorry. I have been the Slayer for seven years. I have the strength of the wolf behind me. I have fought battles you could never fight. And I've won. So if you're not scared, take my advice. Get scared, because you're not facing any old Slayer. You're facing Mirany Hunter."_

The PA turned off and silence, but for the crackling of magic flame, fell upon us.

"Let her come," Aedus said finally. "So that she can watch you burn."

With that, he disappeared.

"Angel, she's coming up," Brydan groaned. "But she's-"

"Different."

I could feel it too. Something in Mirany had been triggered, whether on purpose or not, and now she was pissed. But beyond that even. She wasn't just had been telling the truth. She really believed that she had nothing to lose. She wasn't falling into the abyss. She had already fallen.

We waited. I could hear Brydan counting the floors.

"Third. Fourth. Fifth."

We were on the twenty-seventh. I could see through Mirany's eyes the floors as they passed by through the glass lift, and I feel everything she felt as she climbed higher.

"Eleventh. Twelfth. Thirteenth."

Time seemed to come to an almost standstill. The waiting. If anything was going to kill me today, this would be it. Waiting to see what nothingness had done to my charge.

"Seventeenth. Eighteenth. Nineteenth."

Where had Aedus gone and why? If he was going to destroy us all you'd think he'd want to watch. Clearly, he had a plan. Mirany didn't. Mirany was going to get herself killed. I had to stop her. I had to protect her.

"Twenty-first. Twenty-second."

_Mirany. Go home. You still have time. Leave._

There was no reply. I wasn't even sure Mirany had registered my voice.

"Twenty-third."

_MIRANY! Listen to me! Turn around!_

"Twenty-fourth."

_Why won't you listen to me?_

"Twenty-fifth."

_Mirany. Please. You'll get yourself killed._

"Twenty-sixth."

_Mirany!_

_No Angel. I won't leave._

"She's here."

My head flopped back against the back of the chair.

"Damn it Mirany."

...

**MIRANY**

Lilah's office door was hot, and I could see the light from the flames coming from underneath it.

_He's going to kill you._

I ignored Angel. I couldn't afford to listen to him right now. I hadn't been here since Lilah had died. I was going to get her stuff. Apparently they couldn't give the office to anyone else until I did, but I had never brought myself to do it. Now most of it would be going up in flames. Probably for the best. What use would I have for a 'Best Evil Lawyer of the Year' award anyway?

I was hesitating. I couldn't do that. Not now. Not when I was so close. Pushing my feelings aside, I shoved open the door. Fire leapt up in front of me at once, creating a wall which I would never be able to get past. Through the huge flames I could see Angel surrounded by more and Brydan trying to push himself up.

_Brydan. Go._

He stared at me before seemingly screwing up what energy he had and disappearing.

"Oh my. Your vampire seems to be a bit stuck," said Aedus from behind me.

I whipped around, knife raised, but the whole thing just burnt up in my hand and I dropped it before the metal could melt onto my skin.

"How will you get to him?" he asked. "Those flames are far too dangerous to risk running through. But hurry, because the flames around him seem to be closing in."

I glanced back at Angel. The bastard was making his flames move closer to him, and the wall of flames blocking the doorway was getting higher and hotter.

"Let him go, and I'll let you live," I said.

"Sorry," said Aedus. "But I don't cope well with orders. Much like you, hmm?"

I paused.

"Oh my, are you here against orders? Naughty, naughty. I'm a dangerous person you know. This isn't the sort of situation a young lady such as yourself should be getting into. Why would you defy an order like that? Do you like putting yourself in danger?"

I squared my shoulders and set my jaw as he moved closer to me, standing my ground.

"Because that's what you've done. You've put yourself in a terribly dangerous situation and it would be truly terrible if you were to fall against me. What a tragic loss to the people who didn't want you to come."

"It would be terrible," I agreed. "A real tragedy. To those people. But see, I don't really care what those people will go through right now. You could say that I'm a little pissed off at them. You could say that I'm angry as hell at them. I don't really care what you say. But whether my dying would be a tragedy or not, we'll never know, because I'm not here to die."

I swung at him and caught him a heavy blow to the chin. He staggered backwards and his eyes flashed. I was lifted off my feet and flung straight through the flames behind me. I braced myself for the burning, but it never came. The stone around my neck was glowing brightly, absorbing the heat, stopping me from getting burnt.

_Excellent._

Aedus looked extremely pleased as he stepped through the fire.

"You found my stone. I'm so glad. And you managed to figure out how to join the two together. Even better. Now, come here."

Against my will, I was pulled right up to him. He grabbed hold of the stone and pulled. The chain did not budge and the stone began to glow brighter. Aedus' hand shook as he tried to yank it from my neck again.

"You know what your problem is? You're too cocky."

I hit him again and he let go as he staggered away.

"You gave your best weapon to your enemy," I said. "Now, I dunno what you were thinking, but it was stupid."

Aedus growled. I could smell the scent of burning flesh and didn't need to see his hand to know that it would be blistering. Bet he wasn't used to that.

"You may be resistant to flames, but how are you willing to bet your warrior isn't?" he snarled. It was the first time I hadn't seen him calm and collected, which probably wasn't a good thing.

I acted automatically. As the flames reached Angel, I did the one thing that I could, and I dived through them, grabbing Angel and pulling him out the other side. It was a reckless move, and I was counting on the stone to cover us both. Thankfully, it did and we both came out of the flames unscathed.

"You shouldn't have come," Angel growled.

"Neither should you," I snapped.

Aedus looked livid as I jumped to my feet.

"The stone may protect you from flame, but it does not protect you from me!" he said angrily.

"MOVE!"

Angel tackled me away as Aedus sent every heavy object in the burning office straight at me.

"You know, we could stop arguing and work as a team," I suggested.

"I'm up for that," said Angel.

Aedus snarled and threw ball after ball of flames at us. Instinctively, we split up, which was, apparently, exactly what Aedus wanted, and he directed all his fire power on Angel. I tried to get back to him, but Aedus had other ideas. His eyes flashed and suddenly my feet were frozen.

"I don't think so wolf. I want you where I can see you."

Angel ducked behind the desk to avoid the flames, but the desk immediately lit up and he yelled, scrambling away from it. He was backed up in the corner, with nowhere to run if Aedus attacked again.

"And to think you thought you'd won for a moment," said Aedus coolly. "I am ten times more powerful than you! The idea that you might be able to defeat me, even with the tri-stones, it's laughable!"

_Brydan. Now would be a good time._

Brydan appeared silently behind Aedus.

"You cannot win against fire," Aedus growled. "I am stronger than you will ever be. Say goodbye wolf."

_Now._

As Aedus steeled himself for the kill, Brydan moved in, clapping his hands on either side of Aedus' head and concentrating hard.

"What are you-?" Aedus yelled, trying to move but finding himself paralysed.

"The power of light repels you," I growled. The invisible bonds on my feet were lifted and I stepped right up close to Aedus. "The power of fire burns you. These two powers I invest in one in tune with spirit."

Brydan shuddered slightly as the stone around my neck glowed at it's brightest, a single beam of light falling straight on him.

"You would do this to one of your own kind? Traitor!" Aedus yelled.

"Save it dude," I told him. "You're officially toast."

Brydan's eyes flashed and Aedus crumpled, the fire he had created going out as he did. The light from the stones faded and Brydan staggered as the power from the stones left him. I grabbed him under the shoulders.

"You alright?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Peachy," Brydan moaned.

"What was that?" asked Angel.

"That was psychic power at it's rawest. Brydan gave Aedus a taste of his own medicine. He overdosed."

Angel stared at Brydan.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"I transferred my energy to him. All of it. Nobody can handle that much potent power," said Brydan.

"Why are you able to do that?"

"Angel, 20 Questions later. Let's get out here," I said firmly.

...

Three days after Aedus' downfall, I finally stopped stalling and went down to the hotel. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to Angel,I just didn't want to have the 'you shouldn't have come' discussion. He'd been amazingly good about leaving me alone, better than usual, not even talking to me through his mind. He wasn't giving me the silent treatment, he was just giving me my wish. The screaming I had given him about drugging me was probably the main contributor to this. He knew I didn't really want to hear anything he had to say. But, it was time for me to stop ignoring him.

When I got to the hotel, I made a beeline for Angel's office, but before I could go in, Brydan came out.

"Mirany. Hey, can we talk?"

I swallowed.

"That sentence usually precedes something bad," I said.

"Well, I'm not gonna lie, you're right," he said. "Although your credit card will be happy."

"Brydan, what are you...?"

Brydan lead me over to the couch and sat down beside me.

"I'm leaving," he said.

"Leaving?"

"I'm gonna go back to England. Go to the Watchers Council. Get proper training. I'm scared of myself Mirany. I need someone to really teach me about my powers."

"Well, when are you coming back?" I asked.

Brydan didn't answer me.

"You're not coming back, are you?"

"I would but, personally, I don't want your life. I mean, it's perfect, for you, but I'm not a fighter Mirany. I'm just guy with some powers."

I sighed.

"When are you leaving?"

"When you've finished talking to Angel, I'll be gone," said Brydan.

I bowed my head.

"So I guess this is goodbye then," I muttered.

I looked back up at him.

"Promise me you'll be careful," I said.

"I will if you will," said Brydan, smirking.

I smiled and hugged him tightly.

"Good luck," I said.

"You too," said Brydan. "And Mirany?"

He pull away from me.

"You're paying for the training," he said.

I opened my mouth to reply, but he was gone. I sat there for a moment, processing. At some point in the near future, I would be extremely sad. My best friend was gone, but for now, I was happy for him. I got to my feet and took a few breaths before entering Angel's office.

"So I guess he just you then?" asked Angel, not turning around as he scanned a bookshelf.

"Yeah," I muttered, sitting down. "England. Training. New life. I'm gonna miss him."

"I think we all will, one way or another," said Angel, turning and smiling at me. "You're talking to me again."

"No point staying mad at you forever. I figure you're going to hell anyway."

Angel smirked.

"That's probably true."

"So, it's your turn. How angry are you?" I asked.

"I'm not," said Angel, leaning against his desk in front of me. "I was, but now I'm not."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because if our positions has been reversed, I'd have done the same thing, and I'd have been just as mad to find out that I'd been drugged. I promise you it was only out of good intention."

"I know," I sighed. "You're really not gonna do the whole 'you shouldn't have come' lecture?"

"Nope," said Angel. "Because you probably know it off by heart, or know something fairly similar, and I shouldn't have to lecture you any more. You're twenty-one. Grow up."

I grinned.

"Never."

...

**CONNOR**

When I had spoken to Mirany, I hadn't been trying to promote myself above Angel, but thinking back, it would have sounded a lot like it. It was true though. He couldn't truly love her if he wanted to keep her safe. I could. I caught Mirany on her way out of the hotel.

"What are you gonna do?" I asked.

Mirany knew what I was talking about immediately, and she was silent for a few moments as she pondered how best to answer.

"I don't need perfect happiness from him," she said eventually. "Most people just settle with fairly good happiness. I'm fine to settle with that too."

I sighed and stared at the ground as we walked out to her car.

"I'd sort of hoped...guess I was being stupid. Grasping at straws and what not."

Mirany took my hand and I looked up at her.

"I don't need a boyfriend. That position's filled," she said. "But, I can't always talk to Angel. I mean, I can, but, sometimes I don't want to. There are just some times when I need to talk to someone but if I talk to Angel it just doesn't feel right. That's why I kept Brydan around. But he's gone now. Off to England to start a new life. I need someone I can trust. Someone I know will listen, no matter what I say. Someone who I trust possibly even more than Angel."

"You trust me that much?" I asked.

Mirany nodded.

"Yes," she said. "So, if you really want to be a big part of my life, you can be my best friend."

I smiled.

"Absolutely."

"Just letting you know, this is a twenty-four hour job," Mirany informed me. "And you'll probably start tonight. The likelihood of me sleeping tonight is very low."

"I'll be here," I said.

...

It was two a.m. when I opened the door, and therefore it was not a surprise to see Mirany standing there.

"I couldn't sleep," she muttered.

I stepped back and let her in, closing the door behind her.

"I've been having the same dream for the past few nights," she said. "Aedus using the stone and taking over the entire planet. Forcing me to watch as he kills everyone. And then he brings everyone back and kills them again."

She shuddered.

"I keep telling myself that it's only a dream," she said shakily, sitting down on the bed. "He's gone. He's gone and everyone's safe. But it's so real. So real."

I sat next to her.

"It's just shock Mirany," I said quietly. "You accepted death that night. You didn't care if you came out of there alive or not as long as you took him with you. And then you came out. It's a lot to process. And to watch your friend become so powerful that he could kill with a thought...these things leave marks. It'll go away Mirany. You just need to come to terms with what's happened, and move on. And that could take some time."

"Since when are you the smart one?" Mirany asked. "Why do you have all the wisdom?"

"Honestly? I make most of it up on the spot," I admitted. "But as long as it good, I'm happy."

Mirany giggled.

"Now, you need sleep," I said. "Lie down."

"Connor..."

"Just lie down Mirany. Trust me."

I gave her my best 'trust me' smile and she lay down without complaint. Either the smile had worked or she just knew that she didn't really have a choice.

"Close your eyes."

...

**MIRANY**

"Close your eyes."

I had no idea what Connor was going to do, but I didn't object. For one, like he was going to let me just up and leave, and two, I was perfectly happy to do as he asked. After all, I did trust him, and I was so tired from lack of sleep for the past few nights that I was almost asleep when I lay down. So I closed my eyes, and then Connor did something completely unexpected. He began to sing.

Soft and rough, the lullaby didn't sound right coming from his mouth, yet at the same time, it sounded perfect. And it was so unexpectedly Connor-ish that I felt more comfortable on this bed, with Connor _singing_ me to sleep than I had in bed with Angel in a long time. If this was going to bring trouble, I wasn't thinking about it right now. I was too lost in the song, and soon, I was asleep.


	49. SEASON 5 The Mummy

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**And so we reach another season! And to think I was going to call it quits at the end of the last one. Bah! It'll never happen. I might get slower with writing the chapters now however. I like to make sure I'm improving in some form or another all the time so I'll probably read over everything I write, delete it, and start all over again about five times for each chapter. Or maybe not. I don't know. I could be super fast. I could also shut up and get on with the chapter, so that's what I'm going to do.**

**Enjoy and review :)**

* * *

**_"Death comes on wings to he who enters the tomb of a pharaoh. He shall be cooked together with the condemned._****_"_**

* * *

_Lilah,_

_It's been ten months since you...left, and a lot's happened. But the most important thing...we got him Lilah. So I guess that's all you need to hear to rest easy, but I'm going to tell you the rest._

_Angel and I have gone far past a blood bond now. He and I have a warrior's bond. That came about because I almost joined you. Angel didn't tell me at first, then when he did, I was so angry, and I wanted him to prove himself. He did._

_I'm twenty-one now, almost twenty-two. I know, I don't act it. To be honest, I never thought I'd get there. So many Slayers have gone long before they even got through their teens. I guess I'm just lucky. Or maybe I'm cursed. But I can't think like that. I am lucky. I even have a dog. Yeah, I know, me with a dog. Yeah right, right? But it's actually really good. Her name's Maia. She's a Siberian Husky. Brydan got her for my birthday. I couldn't think what I did in this big empty place without her. I must have been such a lonely girl._

_I fear I may have slipped up at some point along the way. I let Angel bite me, and now he's just as addicted to me as I am to him. Connor was so outraged when he found out._

_Connor. Connor still confuses me. We're talking again. In fact, we're talking more than ever now. Brydan's gone. He went off to England to train properly then start his life afresh. I still miss him, but he was right. My life really wasn't for him. I hope he's doing well though. He hasn't contacted me at all since then. Probably for the best. Connor stepped right up to the bat almost the moment Brydan left. He'll never give up, I'll give him that much. He's my best friend now. He wants to be more than that, I know he does, and I can see it in his eyes and his actions. I sometimes wonder if I want that too. Do I love him more than I love Angel? That doesn't seem possible._

_Yeah, I'm still with Angel. How could I not be really? And he is still amazing. I wish I could talk to him the way I talk to Connor, but there's just some things I can't tell him. Is that wrong? Should I be able to tell him everything? But he doesn't seem to mind. I mean, he knows I talk to Connor instead of him sometimes. I guess I'll just have to wait it out a bit more._

_I've never written to anyone like this before, but I think I'll do this more often. I feel like a weight's been lifted._

_I love you,  
Mirany._

...

"OW!"

I glared at Cordelia, rubbing my arm where she'd pinched me. It had hurt, okay?

"What was that for?" I asked savagely.

"I was talking, you weren't listening," said Cordelia simply. "I had to get your attention. And stop being such a baby, that didn't hurt. You're the Slayer. You're supposed to be immune to things like that. I thought I was going to have to hit you."

"Someone will be doing some hitting in a second but I don't think it'll be you," I muttered under my breath. "What are you doing here anyway? Why can't you talk to people at the hotel?"

"Well, Mirany, there are two types of people, boys, and girls. All of the others at the hotel are boys. Short hair, muscles, well, for Connor and Angel at least, broad shoulders, penises, the whole package."

"Why am I putting up with this?" I muttered. "Maia, come play with me!"

"Mirany! I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you here and you're completely ignoring me!" said Cordelia indignantly.

"I'm not ignoring you, I'm keeping myself sane," I said, whistling for my dog when she didn't come. "You may now continue."

"I need dating advice," said Cordelia.

I stared at her.

"_You_ need _dating__ advice_ from _me_?" I asked, making sure that I'd heard correctly.

"Yes," sighed Cordelia.

"About?" I asked, tackling Maia and rolling around on the floor with her.

"How do I date two guys at once?"

"Cordelia!" I said indignantly, sitting up. "You came to me for advice on being a bitch, not dating advice!"

"The two aren't mutually exclusive," Cordelia muttered.

"I'm not helping you. That stuff never turns out well and I don't need you blaming me for something that wasn't my fault."

"Mirany, please. I don't know the protocol here," said Cordelia.

"And you think I do?" I asked.

"Are you not dating Connor?" asked Cordelia pointedly.

"No!" I said firmly. "I'm not. Can't a girl just be friends with her ex?"

"No," said Cordelia simply.

"I'm not dating Connor," I said. "And I'm not helping you date two people at once."

"Mirany, come on," Cordelia implored.

"No," I said. "Leave."

"I gave you dating advice," Cordelia muttered, getting to her feet.

"You made me break off my engagement with Connor," I said. "I was perfectly happy before you came along and made me rethink everything."

"It was still advice. And besides, you're not complaining now!" said Cordelia.

"Goodbye," I said pointedly.

Cordelia scowled and left.

"That woman is insane," I told my dog. "Don't ever listen to a word she says. You'll turn out like me."

"MIRANY! THERE'S SOMEONE AT THE DOOR!" Cordelia yelled from down the hallway.

"WELL LET THEM IN THEN! BUT DON'T-!"

"YEAH, YEAH, I KNOW THE DRILL!"

"Cordelia knows something?" I muttered, turning back to Maia. "That is surprising."

"Why didn't your friend just use the intercom?" asked a male voice from behind me.

I turned and stared at a man I hadn't seen in a very long time.

"Oh my God, Toren?" I asked, getting to my feet.

"Hey Mir. How's it going?"

I all but flew into his arms and hugged him tightly. The last time I had seen him, I had been two days from leaving for America, and, apart from a few extra feet, he hadn't changed much at all. That had been almost nine years ago.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, letting him go so that he could catch his breath.

"Well, I had to come down and I thought I'd look you up. See how you were doing," he said.

His eyes were still their bottle green and his hair had turned slightly darker than his original bright blonde. It was now a sandy blonde, about two or three inches long and completely out of control, as it had always been. He was a little ganglier than I remembered him, but since I remembered him being about two inches tall, where he was now about 6'5", just taller than me, it wasn't particularly surprising.

"And hey, you were right," I said. "You are now taller than me."

"Told you I would be," said Toren, smirking.

"So what are you down here for then?" I asked.

"I'm looking for something," said Toren. "And the three different guys I had employed to look for it disappeared so I decided that I'd just do it myself."

"Three?" I asked. "What exactly are you looking for Toren?"

"Treasure," he said mysteriously, sitting down.

I frowned at him.

"The National Museum recently acquired a large range of Egyptian artifacts. Some of them are very rare."

"You're buying them?"

"They're already mine," Toren said, scowling. "The original owners from Egypt sold them to me, then the National Museum up and took them before I could collect."

"Ah, so you're just taking back what's your then?"

"Exactly," said Toren. "Don't worry, I'm not going to steal anything. I just refused to let the museum ship them across. I like to make sure everything's authentic. So, I came down here to work my magic spell on them."

"What do you mean your other guys 'disappeared'. They run off?" I asked.

"Possibly," said Toren. "They were pretty spooked by the curse."

"Curse?" I asked. "What curse?"

"Well, the artifacts didn't just come from someone's backyard. They came from a crypt," Toren explained. "You know, the kind with mummies. So of course there's the 'anyone who touches my stuff gets cursed' sort of thing on the walls and what not. It's all bullocks. Nobody really believes in that stuff. Guess the amount of was going to pay them just wasn't enough incentive for them."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it."

"Oh, before I forget, I saw Brydan. He said to say hi. Man, he's got some serious whammy behind him. Blew me right off my feet when I touched him. I didn't scare him _that_ much. Did you know he's a psychic? Could have fooled me."

"Brydan? How is he?" I asked.

"Oh well, you know Brydan. The same. 'Babe magnet' he called himself. He said he's not doing too badly. Told me to tell you that his instructor is hotter than yours, whatever that means."

I rolled my eyes.

"He would," I muttered. "So this artifact of yours...what is it?"

Toren pulled a picture from his bag.

"A gold Anubis," he said, his eyes sparkling at the idea of such a statue as he handed the picture to me. "There are other bits and pieces as well, but this is the prize."

"And you think that the museum's just going to let you take it back?" I asked.

The ruler next to the statue in the photo said that it was about ten inches tall. From the photo, it was made of solid gold and beautifully made. It had been preserved perfectly, not a scratch on it. I could see why Toren wanted it so badly. The rich collector had itched for things like this since he was four years old.

"It's nice," I said placidly. "But aren't you at all worried about the missing people?"

"'Missing' is a very strong word," said Toren carefully. "They're just...non-contactable. I'm sure they're fine. Probably just avoiding me."

"Do you know any specifics of this curse?" I asked.

"It's like any other curse. 'He who disturbs my tomb shall have a curse laid upon them' sort of thing. Come on Mirany, you can't be taking this seriously!"

"Well clearly someone is," I said pointedly. "If your men were the best, which I'm sure they were, where are they? Either they're taking the curse very seriously and staying right away, or maybe they're the reason we should be taking this curse seriously!"

"I knew I shouldn't have told you. You were always into this mystery, supernatural stuff," Toren muttered. "All this stuff is bull Mirany. Things to scare away the weak-minded. I'm not cursed yet and I've been to all sorts of places. The Mayans, the Egyptians, the Norse, even the Greeks and the Romans. They're not real."

"So three people go missing and you just assume they're taking a holiday?" I snapped. "For once in your life, use your head!"

"See? This is why we haven't talked to each other," Toren muttered.

"Oh, don't you dare start all that again. Let's not forget who nearly killed who here."

"I was ten! How was I supposed to know there were armed guards there?" asked Toren incredulously.

"So you had everything else planned right down to how many steps it was going to take us to get from the wall to the door but you didn't know that there were guards? Not very believable Toren."

"Hey, what's all the shouting for?" asked Angel, walking in. "And who are you?"

"Toren, Angel. Angel, Toren. Toren lived next to us back in England," I said.

"Nice to meet you," said Angel. "Did you two always fight like this or is this new?"

I scowled at Toren.

"Always," I muttered.

"I see," said Angel. "Well, carry on."

"Look, can you please drop it?" asked Toren. "It was years ago. You're clearly still alive, so no harm done. Next time you want to find out if your neighbour's a vampire, I'll make sure to check for security, alright?"

Angel and I glanced at each other.

"Do I dare ask why you're here?" asked Angel.

"He wants to steal from a the National Museum," I said.

"It's not stealing if you already own it," said Toren. "And that's not true. I want to talk to the museum, and if they say no, I may accidentally get lost and not get out in time for closing."

"Why can't you just hire someone?" asked Angel.

"He has. Three times. They've all...disappeared," I said. "Toren here is after something from an Egyptian crypt. The kind with curses."

"Will you please tell her that they don't exist?" Toren asked Angel. "Because she won't listen to me."

"What sort of curse?" asked Angel, taking the picture from me. "Nice statue."

"It's not nice, it's amazing," said Toren. "And the kind of curse that's not real."

"Three people go missing trying to get an artifact from an ancient tomb and you think they all went on holiday or something?" asked Angel.

"That is almost exactly what she said," Toren muttered. "Who are you anyway?"

"I'm a friend," said Angel, looking up from the picture. "Boyfriend if you're so inclined. I'm a detective."

"Boyfriend huh? And here I was thinking you swing the other way," said Toren.

"Don't worry Toren, I thought the same for you," I said coolly.

"Detective...aren't you a little young to be a detective?" asked Toren.

"I'm special," said Angel. "So, this curse. Say for a moment it was real. What's supposed to happen?"

"Mummy," said Toren, smirking. "It's supposed to come to life. Suck it's victims dry until they're dust. I imagine it would have done a very good job of keeping people out of the tomb for a long time, but you archaeologists. Love tombs."

"I don't know any archaeologists but I'll take your word for it," said Angel. "So you don't believe in the curse?"

"No, because it's not real," said Toren simply. "And why do you care? What sort of a detective are you?"

"Supernatural," said Angel, smirking at Toren's less than happy expression.

"Of course. Trust Mirany to hung out with the freaks," Toren muttered under his breath.

"Do you honestly believe that the museum is just going to give you the statue?" I asked.

"They have no choice. I'm the legal owner. I have the papers, however museums generally don't give up easily," said Toren.

"So you're a collector?" asked Angel.

"More of a dealer," said Toren. "Yes, I collect a few items for myself alone, but most that I obtain I then sell again, for slightly higher sum of course."

_A business man. Oh joy._

I smirked.

_At least he tells the truth._

_No. Telling the truth would be saying that he sells for a whole lot more than he purchased._

"So I guess you need Mirany's help? Otherwise I'm thinking you would have done this first then come here," said Angel.

"I don't know my way around Americans very well," said Toren carefully. "I could use someone who's lived here for a while, made some contacts, knows the area a bit more."

"You think Mirany knows her way around Americans?" asked Angel.

"Well, she's lived here for a while," said Toren.

"Yes she has," Angel agreed. "But she really doesn't. She doesn't know her way around people in general."

"I don't need to know my way around people. Money solves everything," I said simply.

"Until you're shot," muttered Angel. "Why don't I tag along? You might need my...expertise."

"You're like, twenty years old. You can't have _that_ much expertise?" asked Toren.

"Oh how wrong you are," I said. "Well, let's hop to it gentlemen. I don't have all day. Don't say a word, not a bloody word."

Angel shut his mouth, looking sheepish.

...

"They can't do that! I own that statue! I bought it from the Egyptian government!" Toren snarled.

"Americans," I said, shrugging. "What can you do?"

"I am going to sue them for every cent that they're worth!" Toren growled. "We're not through here."

"Don't let's go over the top just yet," said Angel carefully. "There are other ways to acquire such things."

"Angel, I can assure you that as far as break ins go, Toren is _not_ our man," I said firmly.

"Get over it!" Toren snapped.

"Is that seriously what you're thinking though? You want to steal it?" I asked.

"As Toren said before, it's not stealing if you already own it...most of the time," said Angel.

"Oh, I'm going to regret this," I muttered.

...

The museum was dark and deserted but for us and the three guards now sleeping quite deeply behind the security desk.

"Why do I get the feeling that this is something you've done before?" asked Toren, watching as Angel and I cuffed the guards to the desk, just in case they woke up, though the chances was that happening was next to none. The sleeping powder was very, very effective.

"Well, I don't think we've done a museum before," said Angel. "But we might have, on occasion, had to break in somewhere where there were security guards."

"Did we use the sleeping powder for Wolfram and Hart?" I asked.

"You've broken into Wolfram and Hart?" asked Toren in horror.

"No, because remember? It wasn't so much breaking in as infiltrating," said Angel.

"Oh right," I said. "What about that time with the FBI?"

"Yeah, we used the powder then," said Angel.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Toren muttered. "You're not a detective."

"Yes I am. Just not the sort of detective that you get a licence for," said Angel. "Come on, let's get a move on. Mirany, take up the rear?"

"On it," I said, turning away from Toren and allowing myself to change. "No one coming through the doors."

"You'd wanna hope so," Angel muttered.

He lead the way through the quiet museum, pausing at every corner just to make sure. The place looked so eerie without all the lights on. Every statue and picture looked like they were coming to life in the shadows. I was immediately reminded of Night at the Museum, and seriously hoped that this curse had none of those types of side effects.

The thing that had me so on edge about this curse wasn't the curse itself, it was the fact that Toren wasn't taking it seriously. If there was one thing that I had learnt from the millions of books my parents had collected, it was that curses were not too be messed with. You didn't fight a curse, you ran from it, as long as it wasn't the type of curse that fixated on you, which this one didn't seem to be. I had no problem with facing this curse, but only because I could run from it, and most certainly would if I had to, but Toren didn't believe it existed, which meant that he was going to be the one in most danger, doing stupid things to provoke an attack by an angry mummy.

_Your friend seems pretty confident._

_Glad one of us does._

_Guess I don't have to tell you some of the stories._

_Curses. I really don't like them._

_Just cross your fingers and hope that the disappearances are a coincidence._

_We don't believe in coincidences._

_Maybe we should start._

Angel wasn't helping much, and to top it all off, I was fairly certain that sarcophagus in the exhibit wasn't open the last time I'd seen it.

"Okay, good joke, put it back now," I said nervously, changing back to normal.

"Don't look at us," said Toren.

I swallowed.

"Let's just grab the statue and go," I said.

Angel looked over at the glass case.

"I don't know about you, but I don't think that glass is just there for decoration," he said.

"It'll probably set off an alarm," said Toren. "And there'll probably be a weight sensor too."

I scowled and crouched next to the stand, tearing off the metal sheeting that had been bolted above a large bunch of wires.

"How did you do that?" asked Toren, staring at the crumpled sheet of metal.

"Talent," I said shortly. "Which wires do you reckon?"

"I don't know," said Toren. "I don't usually steal stuff like this."

"Oh, so you only steal the small stuff then?" I asked. "Ah, hell with it."

I seized the entire group of wires and yanked them out. Nothing happened.

"Okay, let's assume that worked and grab the thing," I said, smashing the glass with my elbow.

I turned to make sure that there were no stray security guards coming to arrest us and froze.

"Uh...guys. You know that curse we were talking about?"

"What about it?" asked Toren as he lifted the statue from the case.

"Well, I think you should start believing," I said.

The mummy was barely 5 feet tall, but that didn't matter. It moved so much faster than any mummy ever did in the movies, though I had to hand it to the costumes and make-up for some of those movies. They were right on the mark. The bandages around the thing were slowly beginning to fall away, and glimpses of dark, blackened skin could be seen, looking so fragile it was surprising that the whole thing didn't just fall to pieces with every step.

The other two whipped around. Toren's reaction couldn't be described as anything else but cowardly. Wailing something dreadful, he took off down a side corridor, leaving Angel and I facing a mummy that was very quickly advancing.

"I'd run, but I'm scared that it will too, and it looks like it could be a fair bit faster than us," I said.

"Maybe it won't touch us. After all, we haven't touched anything here but the glass. That wasn't in the tomb. Maybe it's just coming back to it's sarcophagus after a long night of patrolling the corridors," Angel suggested.

"If that's not wishful thinking, I don't know what is," I said. "How do we get out of this? From what I know, you don't fight a curse."

"Uh...fire?" Angel tried.

"Where do you propose we find fire here?" I snapped.

"Split up. Let's find out," said Angel.

"Oh Toren. I hate you sooo much," I muttered, taking off in one direction while Angel went in the other.

I didn't look back. I didn't want to, but I had no choice when I made a turn and ran into a dead end. Hoping against hope that the mummy had gone after Angel, despite how bad that would be anyway, I turned back to the doorway. Yeah. Never hope against hope. It doesn't work.

"You know what? I knew you'd be there, but I still hoped you wouldn't be," I told the mummy.

The mummy, obviously, didn't reply. Instead, it lunged at me. Barely managing to dodge away, I tried to run back into the corridor, but it's bony, bandaged, much stronger than it looked hand had be by the shoulder and suddenly we weren't in the exhibit of the history of LA or something anymore. Instead we were in something dark, cramped, dry and...oh my God. I was in the sarcophagus. I let my eyes change so that I could just barely see, and what I saw didn't impress me at all. I was in here with the mummy, who was currently unwrapping his bandaging.

"Oh God. HELP!"

I banged on the lid of the sarcophagus, but it wasn't about to budge. I remembered seeing a clasp of some sort on the outside. I was locked in.

"ANGEL! GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

The mummy's bandaging fell away, revealing a shriveled, blackened head, with gaping holes for the eyes, nose and mouth. It grabbed either side of my head with those disgusting hands and pulled me towards it. It took all my strength to resist, and even then, it only slowed it down. In the space, I couldn't exactly kick it away or anything, and when it registered that it's arms weren't working, it went for leaning in instead.

"HELP! ANGEL! HELP!"

I pressed my palms against it's head, trying the keep it from getting any closer. That was not a smart move. Apparently, anything that touched that head, was going to get all shrivel-y and mummy-ish. I stared in horror as the mummy began to drain my hands of any human resemblance and jerked them away at once. They quickly went back to normal, but the mummy took the opportunity at once and pulled my face into it's own.

_ANGEL!_

The man's timing probably could have been better, but it was better than nothing. The lid opened suddenly and the mummy went up in flames at once. I yelled and scrambled out of the sarcophagus as the fire raced right over it's body, running my hands over my face to make sure that I hadn't turned into a mummy myself. Thankfully, I was greeted by smooth skin.

"You alright?" asked Angel.

"Yeah," I said, staring as the mummy slowly crumbled into ash. "Let's get out of here."

...

"Well, I for one am never, ever, ever planning another museum 'break-in'," I sad fervently.

"I don't think Toren will either," said Angel, smirking. "He was looking a bit green."

"You didn't see him when I screamed my head off at him," I said. "I might have shown him a bit of a glimpse of what happens to me when I get really angry."

"So he won't be visiting again?" asked Angel.

"I doubt it," I said.

"Not worried that he might blurt your secret to the world?" asked Angel.

"Oh, he can try, but I have far more money than him. I don't think many people will take him seriously if he gets locked up in a mental institute," I said.

"You would do that to your ex-friend?" asked Angel, grinning.

"Oh please, I would do that to _you_," I said.

"What?" Angel asked, following me into my room. "No you wouldn't."

I turned to smirk at him.

"Two-hundred and fifty and you still don't have a clue," I said.

"About what? Should I have a clue?"

Angel looked so scared about this that I couldn't help but laugh.

"Calm down. Jeez, men."

I kissed him softly.

"There's nothing to be worried about," I told him. "Yet."

Angel swallowed as I kicked the door closed.

...

_Hey Lilah,_

___So Toren came to visit. Should have known that would end badly, huh? I guess wasn't thinking straight. He came looking for an artifact from Ancient Egypt, ended up almost making me an artifact. Not something I ever want to repeat. He got scared when he saw it, freaked out completely and took off without seeing whether we were following or not. Because he always cared so much about me. Do you remember what happened when I was ten? You were already down here, but I told you over the video conference. He never even said sorry. ____I put him through the wringer about this one. I even 'slipped' and showed him what I am. I don't think he'll be keeping in touch._

_Well, I have to go._

_I love you,  
Mirany. _


	50. Being Human

**_"All I wanted was a normal life...and that's exactly what I got._****_" _****_- Anonymous_**

* * *

I knew something was wrong the moment I rolled out of bed. Because I didn't roll out of bed. I rolled into a wall. If my memory was anything to go by, there had never been a bloody wall next to my bed. The next thing I noticed, when I rolled the other way, was that I almost fell out of bed. Now, I hate to brag, but my bed is massive. This was not a massive bed. This was a queen at the very most. Had I fallen asleep in Connor's room again? No. The room didn't smell like Connor. The room smelt like a normal, average human's room. Where was I?

I didn't want to chance opening my eyes. I was warm, I was comfortable, I was most certainly ready to fall asleep again so that I could wake up for real this time, and I didn't want to see the disaster just waiting to happen. But apparently, I didn't have a choice. Someone was banging on my door. No, that wasn't right. Someone was banging on _the_ door. It certainly wasn't my door. If someone banged on my door, it would sound like a normal knock from the other side. Not this door. This door shook with every hit.

"Mirany! You're going to be late for work!"

Work? I worked? No I didn't. However, there was one thing I recognized. The sound of Connor's voice. Thank God. At least one thing in this dreamland related back to my normal life. I heard the door open.

"Mirany?"

Now, usually when somebody enters a room, their scent fills the entire room, at least, it does for me. I couldn't smell Connor at all. I sat bolt upright and sniffed at my hand. There was no smell. It was just a hand, and now that I was paying attention, it was a hand _without_ a Warrior's mark on it. Something truly was wrong. Connor looked shocked.

"Wow. Okay. Never seen you so awake right after waking up before," he said. "Is there something wrong?"

I clambered off the far-too-small bed and sniffed at him. I could smell his deodorant, but I couldn't smell his scent. What the hell was going on?

"Um...Mirany, hon, why are you sniffing me?" asked Connor.

He was wearing a shirt. A proper shirt, with buttons and a starched collar and everything. And a tie. Connor was wearing a _tie._ That settled it. If it hadn't been a dream before, it was definitely one now. His voice sounded different. I couldn't hear all the little quivers in the pitch that I used to. It was almost as if I was...oh boy.

"I'm human," I muttered.

"Well, I'd certainly hope so," said Connor, looking seriously confused. "What happened? Did you have a bad dream or something?"

"No, but I'm having one now," I said.

Connor brushed my fringe out of my eyes and wrapped his arms around my waist.

_Wait. Is he really about to-_

Connor cut off my thoughts with a kiss.

_Jesus Christ, I've missed that. Wait! No! Bad! What the hell is going on?_

"I made you breakfast," he said when we broke apart. "Maybe you just need to get a bit of food in you."

"Yeah," I breathed. "Maybe."

_I will be extremely surprised if food solves this problem._

I followed him through a house that I had never seen before, and immediately didn't like. It was too small and cluttered. There was stuff on every surface and there couldn't have been more than three rooms here. Connor was talking but I didn't register a single word he was saying until I heard, "...because you are pregnant."

I froze.

"What?" I asked dumbly.

Connor stopped and raised an eyebrow.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked, placing a hand on my forehead.

"No," I said fervently. "What were you saying about pregnant?"

"You. Are pregnant," said Connor. "Mirany, I think I should take you to a doctor."

I looked down at my stomach and blanched. That was why I was feeling especially weird. Aside from having none of my powers or senses, I was huge! I had to be at least eight months into pregnancy.

"Jesus Christ I'm a whale!" I exclaimed.

Connor smiled slightly.

"Mirany, you're beautiful," he said, rubbing a hand across the bulge where nicely toned abs had once lived.

"How did we meet?" I asked.

Connor blinked.

"What?"

"What about your parents? Where are they? What are their names? Where are _my_ parents?" I asked.

"I'm taking you to a doctor," said Connor decidedly. "Work can wait."

"I don't need to go to a doctor, I need you to answer my questions!" I insisted.

Connor wasn't listening.

"Connor!"

He stopped searching for his keys under the mess on top of one of the little tables in the hallway and looked at me. I gave him my best pleading look.

"Please? Humor me."

Connor sighed.

"My parents names are Darlene and Liam," he said. "They moved back to Ireland a year ago after living _here_ to raise me. Your parents live about half an hour out of LA. We met in high school."

"I went to high school?" I asked. "What about the rest of my family?"

"Your brother's a mechanic over in Washington and Lilah's a lawyer at some firm called Wolfram and Hart in the middle of LA. You talk to them both at least once a week."

"They're all alive," I muttered, turning away from him.

"Mirany, come on. You're really getting me worried. You need a doctor."

"Which means," I continued, completely ignoring him, "that none of it ever happened. I'm human. I'm not the Slayer. Angel's not a vampire..."

I turned back to Connor.

"I'm normal," I finished.

"Yeah, that's debatable," said Connor, taking me around the waist and steering me into the kitchen. "Look, have some breakfast. If you're still acting strange I will carry you to a doctor."

"You'd have to have super powers to carry this load," I muttered, scowling at my stomach.

"Yeah well, you're carrying another two, you're gonna be big," said Connor. "But you're still beautiful."

"Twins? Dear God no."

Okay, then. In that case, I probably wasn't eight months in. Maybe more like five or six. Twins. I really, really needed to wake up now. Connor, God bless him, placed a huge plate of bacon and eggs and toast in front of me.

"You are a saint," I told him.

"You already knew that," said Connor, smirking and handing me a fork.

I grabbed his hand and turned it until I could clearly see the ring on his finger.

"Yes Mirany, we're married," said Connor before I could ask. "I don't know why you need to ask, but we are. We've been married for two years now."

I let go of him and slumped back into my chair.

"This is really happening, isn't it?" I asked. "I'm not dreaming."

"Should you be?" asked Connor.

"Oh God, how did I get here?" I asked the room at large. "And how the hell do I leave?"

"Mirany, what are you talking about?" asked Connor.

"This isn't my life," I hissed at him. "In my life, I'm on top of the world! My bedroom is the same size as this entire house! I'm the Slayer! I'm a wolf! My entire family's dead! You're dad's a bloody vampire! I save the world!"

"Okay, you know what? Screw the doctor, I'm taking you to a psychiatrist," said Connor.

"What do my parents do for a living?" I asked.

"Uh...your dad's a personal trainer, your mum's a historian. Specializes in medieval history," said Connor.

"Wrong. They're Watchers. They train Slayers and Warriors," I said firmly.

Connor stared at me.

"Mirany, there's something wrong with you. You need to see someone," he said firmly.

"Yeah, there is something wrong with me! I'm bloody well human!" I yelled at him. "I'm pregnant! _We're_ married! This world is wrong!"

"Okay, I'm calling you mother," said Connor.

"You are not!" I told him firmly.

"Try and stop me," Connor challenged, grabbing the phone and bolting from the room.

I scowled. I was surprised I could even walk like this. Running was not going to be my strong suit.

"I hate you," I muttered, turning back to my bacon. "Well, the rest of the world may be wrong, but there is nothing wrong with bacon."

...

"Mum. Lilah."

I stared at them as they walked in. Connor had all but placed me on the couch and banned me from moving until they got here, but now that they were here, I got ot my feet.

"Mirany, honey, sit down. Lilah and I are here to talk-"

I cut her off as I hugged her tightly. I didn't care how wrong this world was. My mother was alive, and not a shape-shifter. When I let go of her, I moved to Lilah, hugging her so tightly that if I had been the Slayer, I would have crushed her.

"Oh my God, I've missed you," I told them.

"What are you talking about Mirany? We saw you two days ago," said mum.

"No," I said, letting go of Lilah. "No, you're dead. I haven't seen you in so long."

"She keeps going on about this 'other world'," said Connor. "I wanted to take her to someone but she just won't go. She's not making any sense."

Lilah pulled me back over to the couch and sat down beside me.

"I knew you were loopy but I didn't think you were this bad," she said. "Listen, whatever's going on in that freaky head of yours, it's _just_ going on in your head. You've probably had some sort of strange dream and you've fixated. Mirany, this is your life. Right here. With Connor and us. All alive. All happy."

"You work at Wolfram and Hart right?" I asked her.

"Yes," said Lilah slowly.

"Then you know _exactly_ what I'm talking about! You know what a Slayer is! You know that vampires exist! Don't try to deny it!" I told her.

Lilah looked up at mum.

"She's truly gone insane now," she said fervently.

Mum crouched in front of me.

"Listen to me Mirany. Whatever you believe should be happening, isn't. Whatever you believe exists, doesn't. Do you understand me?"

"But-"

"Mirany, Lilah's right. This is your life, and whatever you're talking about is just in your mind," she said firmly. "Am I clear?"

I stared at her. How could I have been so stupid? Ranting about a different world with vampires and Slayers, where most of the people in my here were dead. Of course they were treating me like I was insane. I couldn't go around saying these things. I had to play by the rules. Until I figured out what was going on, I had to be normal. The only problem was that I had no idea how to be normal.

"Yes," I said eventually. "I'm sorry, I...I don't know what came over me."

Connor sighed with relief and Lilah smirked, as though she knew perfectly well that I was just saying this to keep myself out of an asylum.

"Good girl," said mum, straightening up.

"And Lilah?"

Lilah raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not loopy," I told her.

"Yeah, you're completely sane," said Lilah sarcastically.

I glared at her as she got to her feet.

"I have to get back to work," she said. "Mirany, try not to go too insane. I'll see you later. Mother, am I driving you?"

Mum looked at me. I didn't want her to go. I hadn't truly seen her in years, but apparently, in this life, I saw her a lot.

"I'm fine," I said. "Go."

She kissed my head and left with Lilah. I stared after her. My mum and dad were alive. My siblings were alive. Everyone on the damn planet was alive. What sort of magic was this? Was it even magic, or was this truly a dream? No. I'd have woken up by now, surely. This was some sort of different...dimension. How the hell had I managed to jump dimensions in my sleep!

Connor sat down beside me, brushing my hair aside.

"Do you have an explanation of any sort?" he asked.

"Um...pregnancy delusions?" I tried.

Connor chuckled.

"I called your work, they said they could get you covered for today," he said. "So will you please, just this once, spend the rest of the day relaxing?"

"Well I can't exactly go to the gym," I said pointedly.

Connor smiled.

"Do you want me to stay?" he asked.

"No," I sighed. "Go to work. Earn me some money."

"Alright," he said. "I love you."

"I love you too."

The words sounded strange coming from my mouth. Had I ever actually said 'I love you too' to anyone besides my parents before? I couldn't remember doing so. Connor got up to leave.

"Connor?" I asked.

He turned at once.

"Do we have more bacon?"

...

A phone that didn't connect to my computer. This was new to me. I didn't like the idea that if I wanted to see someone's face when I talked to them, I'd have to actually go and find them and talk to them in person. Oh why couldn't I be rich if I had a normal life? As I waited for my bacon to cook, I scrolled through the contacts on my mobile. At least, I hoped it was my mobile. I'd found it lying around, and considering that Connor had gone to work and had probably taken his phone, I was probably right in thinking that this had to be mine.

The number I was looking for was my work. I couldn't very well pretend that the 'episode' I had just had was finished if I didn't know what I did at work. But I didn't even get close when I found 'Daddy'. I'd seen mum. I'd heard her voice. And she was clearly not a shape-shifter like the last time. I just needed to hear his voice, no matter how weird that was going to sound to him. I shouldn't though. It probably wasn't normal for me to just randomly call my father without a good reason. But despite my better judgement, I called him anyway.

_"Mark Hunter."_

"Daddy?"

_"Mirany! What's up kiddo?"_

I'd forgotten he used to call me that.

"Not much," I said.

_"What do you need sweetheart? If you're at home, I'm about ten minutes away. If you're craving something I can bring it for you."_

I bit my lip. This had been a really bad idea. I could feel the tears welling up. I had always been so much closer to dad than mum. I had to see him. I should tell him that I didn't need anything. That I was just calling to check in. But no. I had to see him, just for a little while.

"Are you busy? Can you stay for a coffee?"

_"Sure thing kiddo. I'll be right over."_

He hung up and I just listened to the dial tone for a good minute. I was really, really stupid. Finally, I hung up as well, and continued on my hunt for a 'Work' contact. I found it, right near the bottom and called.

_"LA's Hottest Hits Radio. Josh speaking."_

"Josh? It's Mirany."

_"Mirany! Hey, how are you? Connor called, said you weren't feeling great."_

"Oh I...hit my head," I lied. "Actually, I had a bit of amnesia I think. I can't remember what time I usually come in..."

_"Dude, you ought to get that bump looked at if you can't remember that. You've been coming in since you were sixteen, though, to be fair, you were coming in the afternoons then..."_

"Josh."

_"Sorry. Uh, our session's eight to eleven each morning._

"Thank you. Sorry I can't make it today. I just don't feel well enough. I'll be in tomorrow."

_"Don't sweat it Mirany. We both know I have enough talk in me to last a week at the least."_

"Ha. Yeah...well, bye."

I hung up. I worked at a radio station? Okay, that was pretty cool, but still...a _radio station_? This world just kept getting weirder. My bacon was ready now, and, as I took the fry pan off the stove, I felt a kick from one of the twins.

...

Dad had always been awesome. That was just dad. He was funny and open-minded and fairly easy going. The fact that he was open-minded meant that when I told him about my 'episode', he was all for pretending that this really was a different world to the one I had been in, and we were still discussing ideas when Connor came back from work at four. Dad had gotten here at one. What we'd come up with ranged from a dream to my being a robot that had rebooted or something. But not only had we come up with ideas, we'd brain-stormed how I might test them. That was what I really needed. I didn't know if any of it would work, but at least I had some ideas as to how I might figure out what was going on. And if I knew what was going on, there was every chance that I'd be able to fix it.

Hanging with my dad had been...amazing. I'd almost forgotten what it had been like when I was younger, and know that I was older and understood the double entendres, it was even better. Dad was so easy to be around. I didn't have to care, about anything, when he was here, and I could say what I wanted. The pregnancy did have a good side though. When he'd noticed tears rolling down my face, I could blame it on hormones instead of saying 'I haven't talked to you like this for nearly eight years'. That was useful.

"Hey honey," I said as Connor entered. Again, it sounded strange coming from my mouth.

"Hi," said Connor, smiling at me. "I see you managed to relax...sort of. Hi Mark. So, are we out of bacon again?"

I bit my lip guiltily.

"It's really yummy," I said. "How was work?"

I still didn't know what he did.

"The bloody editor decided he'd take the day off without giving any notice, so I was given the job," said Connor, scowling. "Because, you know, giving 'the new kid' the job of editor for the day is always a great idea."

Mark smirked.

"So...don't read the newspaper tomorrow?" he asked.

"Oh, you won't have to worry about that. I'll be burning down the printing press tonight," said Connor fervently.

Connor wrote for a newspaper...that was different.

"Oh Connor?"

"Mmm?"

"I couldn't reach the chocolate," I said. "It's on the top shelf."

"There's a reason for that," said Connor pointedly.

Dad winced.

"Oh, you have so much to learn," he muttered. "You bring a whole new meaning to the phrase 'young and stupid'. You don't deny pregnant women anything Connor."

I crossed my arms and gave Connor a 'so there' sort of look. Connor sighed and reached up to the top of the cupboard.

"This stuff is not good for you," he told me, tossing it to me.

"Neither is bacon but I notice you haven't put that out of my reach," I pointed out.

"At least bacon has some semblance of protein and iron," Connor muttered.

"Well then, get more bacon," I said simply.

Connor rolled his eyes as he sat down.

"So what have you two been doing while I've been slaving away?" he asked.

I shook my head slightly at dad, who got the message at once.

"Oh, we just talked," he said casually.

"About what?" asked Connor.

"This and that."

"You know, the last time you two 'just talked about this and that', Mirany decided she wanted kids," said Connor pointedly. "Do I have to prepare myself for anything?"

_What? No. I would never, ever decide to have kids. 'Other me' is really weird._

"No," I said defensively.

"Just making sure," said Connor.

"I should go," said dad, getting to his feet. "I'll see you later kiddo."

Resisting the urge to hug him and not let go for the next five years, I smiled and nodded.

"Bye daddy."

"See you around," said Connor, shaking his hand as Mark passed.

"You might wanna think about getting her a dog," said dad quietly.

Connor stared after him and then back at me.

"A dog?" he asked.

I shrugged.

"Siberian Huskies are really cute."

...

Connor actually had to help me lie down, I was so big. And to think that I volunteered for this. I wanted the things. Ugh, I'm never getting pregnant. Clearly, my family not being alive had changed the way I thought drastically. And the way that I lived. My parents weren't Watchers in this world. They weren't rich. I don't know how they came about all that money just by being Watchers. Wesley was a Watcher and he certainly wasn't rich. But it didn't matter. What mattered is that they weren't rich, which meant I really had lived a very normal life. I'd even gone to school. I had a job.

I would sleep tonight. There was no point in stressing out just yet. But tomorrow, tomorrow I would try every single way of getting out of here. I had to get back to my real life. I loved this life. My family was alive, I was married, I had a job. I was normal, and that was fantastic, but it was too different. This just wasn't my life. It wasn't what was meant to happen to me. I was missing Angel already, and I'd only been here one day. I couldn't help but wonder, if I was here, in 'normal Mirany's' life, then was 'normal Mirany' in mine? What a shock that would be, seeing how the Mirany of another dimension lived compared to her. She'll probably come back and want to hug everyone as well.

"Sure you're alright?" asked Connor.

"Yes," I sighed for the four-hundredth time. "I'm fine. Like I said, it was probably just some dream that I had that my mind decided to hold onto."

"Doesn't sound like the sort of dream you'd want to hang on to," said Connor. "I can't imagine what you'd do if your dad was dead."

_Oh, probably kill someone._

"And you're absolutely sure you don't want to see someone? What could it hurt Mirany?"

"Connor, I'm fine," I said earnestly. "No doctors or psychiatrists necessary. I promise you I'm fine."

I kissed him softly. This was one thing in this world that felt right. Connor and I. Together. I think it was always going to feel right, even back in my world. Hanging with Connor was just...it just worked, like it did with my dad. But there was no point in me dwelling over something that could have happened. It had passed, we'd both moved on...sort of, and we were dealing...sort of. I knew it was going to come to a head between Connor and Angel eventually, and I knew that when it did, I was going to have to make the biggest decision of my life, but while it was alright, while we were just friends, it was good.

"Alright," said Connor. "Good night honey."

_Honey. I don't think I ever called him honey. I don't think he ever called me honey._

...

I didn't have to open my eyes to know that I was back where I belonged. I could smell everything, I could hear everything, I didn't feel like I was carrying an extra hundred pounds, and my bed felt comfier.

"Happy now?" asked Angel's voice.

I opened my eyes and looked over at him. He was scowling at me.

"I had to spend the day explaining to you everything that you that you weren't pregnant, that your parents were dead and that it is alright to be kissed by me because Connor was not your husband," he said. "The next time you want to know what it would be like to have a normal life, just pretend. I'm not doing that spell again."

So it had been a spell. But why hadn't I remembered that I'd wanted to do it. I remembered now. I remembered fighting with Angel over it until he finally gave in. I remembered why. We'd just finished a case where someone had managed to cast a spell that sent them into another dimension. I'd wanted to try it, but with Wesley and Angel's help so that I wouldn't be permanently stuck there if I didn't like it. We'd settled for twenty-four hours. One day in the life of other me. I guess other me had come here.

"Um...sorry?" I tried.

Angel sighed. He certainly wasn't done, but I'd just woken up, and he knew he wasn't going to get far.

"So how was it? From what I heard, it sounded pretty good."

"It was...amazing, but it wasn't me," I said. "If I'd been stuck there forever, it certainly wouldn't have been a bad thing. But I wasn't rich over there, and I need money. Money is my friend. You know, you were alive."

"Yeah, in Ireland," said Angel. "Trust me, I know."

"I think you would have liked it," I said. "Sounded to me like you were pretty happy yourself."

Angel stared at me.

...

"So...?" asked Connor. "How was it?"

"Well, for one thing, my whole family was alive," I said, tapping my fingers impatiently as I waited for coffee. "Why are we out here?"

"Because I'm sick the hotel and your coffee is disgusting," said Connor simply. "The whole family huh? Were they how you remember them?"

"To the letter," I said.

"And clearly you weren't the Slayer," said Connor. "Or a wolf."

"Nope," I said. "Nothing strange about me. Except that I was pregnant. With twins."

"Pregnant?" Connor chuckled. "Who forced you into that?"

"Apparently I wanted them," I said.

"Wow," said Connor. "Very different you then. So, who was the lucky guy?"

I bit my lip.

"You were," I said eventually.

Connor stared at me in silence as the waitress finally brought over the coffee.

"I...I was?"

"We were married," I said quietly. "Met in high school."

Connor was still staring.

"We were married? Truly?"

"Yeah. You had a job at a newspaper and I was a radio host and we lived in some tiny little house together and we were expecting twins," I said.

"Well that's...unexpected," said Connor at last. "What about Angel?"

"_Liam_ moved back to Ireland last year with his wife Darlene," I said. "Human."

"Were we-"

"Still basically us in every other aspect? Yes," I said.

"Mirany, don't you think this means something?" asked Connor. "If we're married in some other life, maybe we-"

"Aren't married in this life because everything in that life was completely different to this one!" I said pointedly. "Connor please, don't start this again."

Connor looked put out.

"What was it like?" he asked. "Were we...did we still...?"

I took his hand.

"It was...it felt right," I said carefully. "And yes. We were still in love with each other. But Connor, this life is too different to know whether it would have worked between us here."

"Yeah, yeah I guess so," muttered Connor.

...

_Lilah,_

_I got a taste of something yesterday. A taste that I'll never get again. Wesley and Angel sent me to a different dimension. A dimension where I was normal. Over there, you were alive. So was mum and dad and Jase. I didn't get to see Jase, but I saw you and everyone else. I was pregnant over there. Pregnant with twins. Connor's twins. We were married. It was weird over there. I mean, I would happily have stayed there for the rest of my life, but still...nothing felt right. Well, almost nothing. My relationship with Connor felt right._

_It's really starting to become prominent now, my feelings for Connor. I still have no idea what they are, but they're definitely there. I know I can't do anything about them. Not yet anyway. But eventually they're going to make me choose, aren't they? I don't know who I really love. I wish it was simple. I wish one of them would do something. Something that would just make it click, you know? Too bad I know what that something would be._

_You'd know, wouldn't you? You always knew, didn't you? You knew everything. Why can't I know everything? Why is everything so complicated? And why don't I ever eat bacon any more? That stuff is good._

_I guess I'll talk to you later,Mirany._


	51. Someone is Watching

**_"The Watcher's Council shrink is heavy into tests. He's got tests for everything. T.A.T.s, Rorschach, associative logic...He even has that test to see if you're crazy that asks if you ever hear voices or you ever wanted to be a florist._****_" - Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)_**

* * *

The doorbell resounded through the house and I leant away from Angel, sighing.

"Why do they always come at the worst moments?" I muttered, letting my hands drop from his chest.8i88

"Aren't you gonna get the door?" Angel asked, stroking my hair out of my eyes.

I got grudgingly to my feet and left the room, walking down the corridor until I reached the door.

"What?" I snapped at the man on the doorstep, opening the door just wide enough that he could see the hanging collection of weapons behind my head.

"Mirany Hunter?" asked the man. He was English, mid-fifties, tall with greying hair. He was giving me a sweeping look, and his face clearly showed that he was expecting something better. I didn't like him at all.

"Look, I'm not buying anything, so piss off," I said, half closing the door but his hand shot out to stop me. Well, he wasn't a vampire. His arm was definitely reaching into my house.

"It would behove you to show a little more respect Miss Hunter. As your Watcher, I won't tolerate it."

I blinked.

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused," said the man, opening my door wider and walking inside. "My name is Mr Edward Farthington. The Watcher's Council sent me to take over the position of your Watcher. I understand that you haven't had one in quite some time and that when you did, they were your parents so they probably gave you special treatment. Know now, that I won't."

I blinked again.

"What?"

"Miss Hunter. I know you've been living in America for a while but I would think that you still had the ability to listen while people were talking to you," said the Watcher shortly. "Now, I want you to go and get changed. I need to test your abilities and see where your powers currently lie on the scale."

I stared at him.

"Huh?" I squeaked.

"What's going on?" asked Angel, appearing beside me. "Who are you?"

"Mr Edward Farthington," said the man. "I'm a...mentor of your friend. Who, might I ask, are you?"

Angel held out his hand.

"Nice to meet another Watcher. The name's Angelus."

I blanched at exactly the same moment that Mr Edward Farthington did.

_What are you doing?_

_I want to see his reaction._

"You are consorting with a vampire? One of the worst vampires no less!"

Angel smirked.

"I'm sorry sir. Forgive me. I wanted to gauge just how well you were trained. Clearly, you haven't read the more recent history books. I _was_ Angelus. I'm Angel now."

"I don't-"

"Long story very, very short, he's cursed with a soul," I said. "Look, there must be some mistake. I have a Watcher. His name's Wesley Wyndam-Pryce."

_Actually, you don't. He's an ex-Watcher._

_Well thanks for telling me this now!_

"Miss Hunter. Mr Wyndam-Pryce hasn't been a Watcher for over ten years. I am your Watcher, and I do not approve of your friendship with this vampire," said Ed firmly.

"Listen Ed, can I call you Ed? I can. I don't want you to feel like I'm trying to undermine your delusions of authority here or anything, but you can't keep Angel and I from seeing each other. See..."

I flexed my hand, making sure that he couldn't miss the Warrior's mark on the back of it.

"...we have this kind of...connection-"

"You made a Warrior's bond with Angelus?"

He was outraged. Angel was amused. I was satisfied. Overall, I was pretty sure we were winning this battle.

"Why wasn't I informed of this?" muttered Ed.

"Oh, while you're muttering about not being informed of things, we also have a blood bond and I used to kill people," I chipped in.

Angel had to clap his hands over his mouth to stop himself from laughing at the look on Ed's face.

"Go and get changed so I can test your abilities," he said shakily.

_Damn. And we were going so well._

"And you, _Angel_, go home."

_I don't think he's very happy with us._

_Can you talk to Wesley and get him to come over and try to sort this out, because I don't think we're really going to help matters along._

_Shall do._

Angel kissed me for just that little while longer than would have been socially acceptable, causing Ed to stutter with indignation, and left. I turned to glare at the Watcher.

"I don't know what it is that you think you can teach me better than Angel, but whatever it is, it better be pretty damn special," I growled.

...

Ed blinked.

"That's it?" he asked.

I stared at him.

"I'm sorry, how many people do you know that can bench press half a tonne?" I asked.

"How long have you been the Slayer?"

"I dunno. Uh...seven years."

"Slayers should easily be able to bench press a _whole_ tonne after three or four years," said Ed.

I bit back the retort I longed to throw at him.

"Get up. Let me test your fighting skills," he ordered.

I got to my feet and he picked up a staff.

"Oh, you don't want me to use that. I'll kill you," I said.

"It's not for you."

He swung at me and I barely managed to duck out of the way.

"Oh, of course not," I muttered.

Taking the time to say even that cost me a shin. Leg burning with pain from being hit rather hard, I concentrated solely on my purpose: to cause this guy double whatever pain he was going to cause me. I didn't like him, and I sure as hell wasn't going to let him beat me up without some serious payback. I avoided another swing and went in for a low sweep, but he caught my foot with the staff and I ended up on my back before I'd even managed to land a blow. That was just embarrassing. But the fight wasn't over, and I rolled out of the way as he swung at me again before jumping back to my feet.

"You're good old man," I commented. "But I'm better."

He swung straight down at me and I dodged around behind him before finally landing a solid blow between his shoulder blades. He staggered and I kicked out at him, but he regained his footing faster than I had expected and he stepped aside, sending me spinning after my foot. He grabbed hold of my arms and sent his knee into mine, causing my legs to buckle beneath me. This was really embarrassing. I'd just been beaten by a Watcher. An _old_ Watcher no less. Eddie sighed.

"I see why they sent me," he said. "I am extremely disappointed in your powers."

I couldn't decide whether to feel insulted or ashamed. I didn't like this guy, but he was a Watcher. He probably did know where my powers were supposed to lie right about now. He let me go and stepped away.

"Who has been training you?" he asked.

"Angel," I said defensively.

"Every day?"

"Well...no."

"How long are your training sessions?" he demanded.

"I...I really don't-"

"How long?"

"About an hour," I said guiltily. "It's not Angel's fault! I just get tired and..."

My voice faded away when I realised that that had not been a smart thing to say.

"You get tired after one hour of training?" Eddie hissed. "How intensive is this training?"

"Oh, you know, intensive," I said carefully, trying not to convey that our training sessions were only intense when we 'worked up a sweat', if you know what I mean.

Apparently, this Watcher wasn't falling for it.

"How often do you patrol?"

I scoffed.

"This is LA dude. You don't need to patrol. Vampires come right up to your doorstep. People always need vampire help."

"If you patrolled every night, they wouldn't because the vampires in question would already have been slew."

"But then I'd put Angel out of business," I said.

I could see the lengths at which he was going to to stop himself from screaming at me. If I could make even this pompous old English-man want to strangle me, imagine what I could achieve with the rest of the world. I could probably start a world war just by being me. Why am I proud of that?

"Starting tomorrow, you are not going to know what hit you," he said fervently. "I am going to make you work Miss Hunter because right now, you are barely a Slayer. Six o'clock tomorrow morning, I will be here. I expect you to be ready."

"Now hang on a second," I objected. "You can't just-"

"Sorry I'm late for the show," said Wesley, walking into the gym.

_Oh thank god._

_Don't thank your lucky stars just yet._

"Mr Wyndam-Pryce," said Eddie coolly.

"Edward," said Wesley curtly.

_What's been happening?_

_Oh you know. Got told I was inferior to other Slayers, got beaten by an old man. Same ol', same ol'._

_Ouch. Don't tell anyone else that. Your rep will be ruined._

_Somehow, I don't think Mr Ed Fartingtown really cares about my rep. Why aren't you here? You are just as answerable for this as I am._

_Hey, I'm just parking my car, alright?_

"I understand that you've been sent by the Watcher's Council to test Mirany's abilities," said Wesley.

"Then you were misinformed," said Eddie. "I'm here as Miss Hunter's new Watcher and I can assure you now that I'm putting a stop to this half-hearted training program she's currently undertaking. We're going to do things by the handbook now."

"There's a handbook?" I asked. "Why didn't I get a handbook?"

"Shut up," Wesley hissed.

I fell silent, pouting.

"Look, I know Mirany, and so I know that if you start working her by the book, you will not get the result you want. Mirany doesn't work by the book. And when she's training, she doesn't show her true potential. She acts on impulse. That's what has kept her alive. If you want her to go by the book, you will get her killed," said Wesley.

_Go Wes._

"The book hasn't ever gotten anyone else killed before, I'm sure it won't get her killed now," said Eddie pointedly.

"That is not true."

Angel had arrived.

"When a Slayer turns eighteen she gets stripped of her powers by her Watcher and forced to take on a vampire. How many Slayers survive that Farthington?"

He didn't have a reply.

"When Mirany turned eighteen, she stopped Wolfram and Hart from leveling this city," said Angel. "On impulse. Certainly not by the book."

"And yet she gets the two of you to fight her battles?" asked Eddie pointedly. "And she can't even defeat an old man with a staff? She needs guidelines and training."

"May I say something?" I asked.

"No," all three of them said.

_Hey!_

_Do you honestly believe that you will help this situation?_

I scowled and busied myself with hitting a punching bag instead of hitting them.

"You are both blinded to the fact that your Slayer is performing inadequately because of your connection to her! I will not allow this to continue. She needs proper training from somebody qualified to do so!"

"I am qualified," said Wesley firmly.

"You haven't been qualified for ten years," sneered Ed. I had to admit, I might not like the guy, but he did have a way of making you feel so completely inferior. I kind of liked his style. Just because of this, he promoted himself from Ed to Eddie. "And you, vampire, you will never be qualified. Your emotions are clouding your judgement."

"Am I allowed a say in this?" I asked.

"Mirany, not now," Angel growled.

I was getting tired of this. I wasn't three years old. I knew how to take care of myself. I let him get away with it this time, but if any of them dismissed me again, I was going to have a problem with it.

"Miss Hunter needs proper training. You are only hindering her chances of survival by refusing it," said Eddie.

"Proper training isn't going to help her survive, it's going to make her a robot!" Angel snapped.

"Mirany has...a unique style to slaying," said Wesley carefully. "The proper training won't help her."

"I have something to add," I said.

"Mirany, you're not helping," said Wesley.

"Alright. That's it. I've had enough. Everybody shut up and listen to me!"

At the tone of my voice, everybody fell silent.

"I notice none of you seem to have taken into account whether I want this or not," I said. "After all, we are discussing me and really, do you guys truly believe that I won't make my own decision anyway. If I want him as my Watcher, I'll listen to him. If I don't, I won't."

Angel had the decency to look ashamed, Wesley looked somewhat abashed and Eddie looked disapproving.

"That Watcher's Council has sent me to-"

"I know what the Watcher's Council has sent you to do," I told him. "But you know nothing about me. I'm one of those stubborn rich girls that won't do anything anyone tells me to do unless it's in my better interests. I understand that I'm below par for a Slayer, but if you expect me to be ready for a training session at six in the morning, then we're going to have a problem. So, fellas, I propose a compromise."

"Mirany, I really don't think-" started Angel.

"Uh uh. Zip it buster," I told him. "I'm talking. Now, I am...willing, to train with you, but I'm not willing to do it at six in the morning. I'm also not willing to train for more than two hours at a time, I'm certainly not training every day and I will only patrol once every three nights. Unlike other Slayers, I have a life outside my slaying. Now, you two, I am more than happy to let you help. However, I don't want to hear any of you fighting about how to train me. If there's a problem, I will solve it."

Eddie was scowling.

"You should really be spending more time-"

"Do you want me to listen to you, or not?" I asked.

"It's a very good compromise," he said quickly.

"Angel? Wesley?"

Angel nodded.

"I hope we can get along," he said to Eddie.

"I wish you luck," said Wesley. "Let's see _you_ tame her."

I frowned at him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What's what supposed to mean?" asked Wesley innocently.

I eyed him shrewdly but turned back to Eddie.

"So Eddie, I'll see you tomorrow."

"To you, I am Sir," he said coolly.

I chewed my tongue as he walked out.

"Still sure you wanna compromise?" asked Angel.

"Not now," I said firmly, determined to dismiss him like he had me, turning my back on him and walking out of the gym.

...

Angel found me in front of my piano at least half an hour later in front of my piano. He waited until I had well and truly finished my song before he spoke.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"You will be," I told him, rummaging through the box at my feet for more music.

"Mirany, you know I didn't mean to. I was just acting out of my knowledge of your record," Angel explained. "Your social skills are remarkably not up to scratch."

"Just like my slaying skills apparently," I muttered as I tossed up between two songs.

"Mirany, look at me."

I sighed and looked up at him.

"You did well in there," he said. "And I know it's frustrating to be told that your skills aren't at all up to scratch. But you know as well as the next person that when you're in the field, it's not how much you bench press that's going to save you. So don't stress about this guy. And yeah, he wants you to call him 'sir', but so what? Call him 'sir'. If there's one thing you're good at it's getting what you want. If you don't want to call him 'sir', show him how disrespectful you can be when you do."

"Are you really telling me to be a bitch?" I asked. "You who have spent many an hour trying to stop me from being a bitch?"

Angel shrugged.

"I don't like him," he said. "He's too..."

"Watcher-ish?" I asked.

Angel smirked.

"Watcher-ish," he agreed. "So tomorrow, when he's trying to get you to go through the works, stop worrying that he's human and that you're going to hurt him. He's a Watcher. He wants you hurt him. If you're hurting him, he's doing his job right. Show him what happens when you act on impulse. Get angry."

"Are you going to be there?"

"Oh Mirany, I wouldn't miss it for world."

...

"Miss Hunter. I asked you to be prepared."

I looked down at my jeans and shirt.

"I am," I said. "I'm dressed, my hair's brushed, and I even had time to do my nails."

I indicated the blood red polish on the ends of my fingers. Sir frowned.

"Oh sorry. I'm dressed, my hair's brushed, and I even had time to do my nails, _sir,_" I corrected.

"Miss Hunter. Do you slay in these clothes, with these nails?" asked Sir.

"Well, not necessarily these exact clothes or this shade per say, but yes," I said.

Sir's frown increased, his disapproval very obvious.

"Miss Hunter-"

"What is with the 'Miss Hunter' thing anyway?" I asked, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "We're pals right Sir? Please, call me Mistress."

"Miss Hunter, I really don't think-" Sir huffed as I steered him inside.

"Oh, and while we're on the topic Sir, I think I should point out that you really shouldn't call Angel a vampire. He's sensitive," I continued.

"Miss Hunter!"

I smirked as he stepped hurriedly away from me and squared his shoulders as he glared.

"I do not appreciate this sort of behaviour and I will not tolerate your training in those clothes!"

"Temper, temper," I muttered. "You sound angry. Do you need a hug?"

"No I do not need a hug!" he all but screamed at me. "Get changed and I will meet you in the gym in ten minutes!"

I smirked at his back as he stalked away.

"I was serious about the vampire thing!" I called after him. "Angel was right. This could be fun."

...

Fun was not the word I would have used to describe the next hour. Painful, exhausting, agonising, arduous, unpleasant, excruciating, crippling, and any other words that mean hurty and energy sapping would have been better suited to my first proper training session with Mr Sir Eddie Fartingtown. I had never worked so hard in my life before.

"Okay, white flag! Time out!" I gasped, sliding down the wall and panting heavily, nursing sore limbs. "Jesus Christ-"

"Don't you dare swear in front of me Miss Hunter," said Sir threateningly. "Now get back on your feet. We've only been at it an hour."

I stared at him in horror. This had been a really, really bad idea. Angel, I noticed, hadn't said a word since we started. He'd just sat in the corner and watched silently. The bastard.

_You could help._

_Or I could watch and learn just how terrible I was at training you._

_Au contraire. You were perfect. Just not in the traditional training sense._

Angel smirked.

_He was right though. I let my feelings get the better of me and didn't push you. I've drastically cut your chances of survival._

_Well, you clearly could have done worse, otherwise I'd still be alive. And wait, will you make up your mind and decide whether he's right or wrong?_

_Can't he be both?_

_That's what I- Oh never mind._

"Yeah, we've only been training for an hour, but I'm dying!" I told Sir angrily.

"Get. Up," he said sourly.

I glared at him and he glared right back. Apparently, the older you are, the more effect your glares have, because I gave in long before he would have.

"Fine, Sir," I snapped, getting to my feet. "What form of torture are you going to put me through now?"

Sir pulled two swords off the wall and tossed one to me.

_Holy shit._

_Mirany, don't you dare swear in his presence._

I glared at Angel, which gave Sir the perfect opening to attack. I barely managed to block his jab and began to swing. This was something I could do. When Angel and I trained, this was something I had a chance at beating Angel at. I was more than definitely going to beat this old man. I think I impressed him, at least, a little bit. My muscles burnt and my shins complained violently whenever I stepped due to taking a severe beating by a stick earlier, but I powered through it all and really tried to take it out on this guy. I almost won. I did managed to catch him on the arm and cut the skin, but that only seemed to spur him to fight harder and faster, and I ended up on my back, the tip of his sword just scraping my neck.

"Better," he said simply, removing the sword from my throat and stepping away, "but not spectacular."

My anger flared. Who did this bastard think he was?

"I'll have you know I defeated the strongest vampire ever in a sword fight!" I snarled, getting to my feet and squaring up to the Watcher.

"And her accomplishment was made that much bigger because the vampire was a duplicate of her," Angel added, speaking up for the first time since we'd started.

"I am aware of your feats," said Sir quietly. "And when I first heard of them I was one among many that wanted to come a train with the famous Mirany Hunter. But when I was chosen, I knew that it wasn't going to be as simple as that. I am only chosen to be a person's Watcher if they truly need help. But do not think for a moment that I don't have a blow by blow account of everything you've achieved, because I do."

"You weren't aware of her activities after her parents died," Angel pointed out.

"The reason I am aware of her accomplishments is because you and your team met her," said Sir. "Mr Wyndam-Pryce may not be a Watcher anymore, but he still has an obligation to report to the Watcher's council when a Slayer he is in contact with conquers something great. When he first contacted the Watcher's Council, an agent was sent to report on her every movement after that. We have no information about the year after her parent's death. Until now. You must understand, I could report this new information to the Watcher's Council and she would have to come back to England for trial. Do not force my hand vampire."

_I did try to tell him that you were sensitive to that._

Angel was scrutinising Sir closely.

"I've been trying to read you since we first met but I still can't figure you out Farthington," he said eventually. "Why are you truly here?"

"The Watcher's Council sent-"

"I know that," said Angel quickly. "But why did you accept? I know how the Council works. They choose someone, who can then accept or defer the offer to someone else. If there were so many willing to train Mirany, why did you accept the offer to do so? Coming all the way to America to train somebody that, to the Watcher's Council, doesn't really need training. That's a big effort. And clearly you're not exactly lacking in potential trainees. I mean sure, training a Slayer is definitely a privilege but it sounds to me like you've already got that one ticked off your list as well. Why did you take up the offer?"

_What are you doing?_

_I want to know why he's here._

_Right now?_

_Why are you complaining? Embrace the chance to catch your breath._

Sir frowned at him.

"That is none of your concern," he said coolly.

"But it is. I'm her Warrior. I have every right to that information so that I can make a decision as to whether or not you're a threat."

"I am helping-"

"Look at her," said Angel, gesturing at me. I'd sat down and was leaning my head back against the wall, doing as Angel said and embracing the break to the best of my abilities. "You're grating her nose against the slate. I want to know that you're not going to kill her."

"Angel," I started.

"No," said Angel. "I'm completely within my rights here as your protector and I'm going to make sure that the people you're in contact with aren't going to harm you."

"Angel, don't-"

"No, no. He's right," said Sir grudgingly.

I looked up at him. He was smiling slightly at me. It's the first time I'd seen him smile, even just a little bit, and it made look about ten years younger.

"You probably don't remember me," he said, "but I used to know your parents. Quite well in fact. I only ever saw you a couple of times while you were little, but I saw your parents quite often. I was with them on the very day that you were called. I helped them in their preparations for your training. They were good people and I was quite upset to hear of their deaths. I had no idea you were still alive. Until the reports came in and the Council decided that you needed a new Watcher. That's why I took this job. Your parents were almost family to me. I hoped to see their legacy continue. That's why I am pushing you hard. Because I know you can take it. Because you are the daughter of two of the greatest Watchers I have ever known."

How did I reply to that? This man who had barged his way into my life was now telling me that he had been a part of my parent's lives since the beginning. What was I supposed to say? Angel looked satisfied.

"I can understand the sentiment," he said. "And you're right. They were good people."

I stared at my knees. I couldn't believe these two men could remember my parents so well. I had lived with them for sixteen years and if it hadn't been for my little experiment with a normal life, I wouldn't have been able to remember what they were like. That really shocked me. I had almost completely forgotten my parents. I hadn't forgotten what they looked like. There were pictures of them around the house, but how they acted, what they were like. If I hadn't encountered them again, I wouldn't have remembered it at all.

_Why did you say anything?_

Angel stared at me.

_Get out._

Angel opened his mouth to object but I glared at him. He frowned and left the gym without another word.

"You knew them well then?" I asked.

Edward sat down beside me.

"Yes," he said.

"What were they like? To you?"

"Good friends," he said. "Honourable people. Strong, trustworthy. If anyone should be proud of their parents, it's you. Your mother was more responsible than your father in general, until it came to you and your siblings. Particularly you. Perhaps because you were the youngest. They were both very easy to be around. I would imagine you wouldn't truly be able to remember them now."

"I went to another dimension. I saw them again. But if I hadn't...I would barely remember their names."

"That's okay Mirany," said Edward. "Nobody expects you to remember them perfectly. Memories are supposed to fade, especially memories that could cause you distress. I knew them for much longer than you did, and Angel's a vampire. I have more memories of them and he doesn't forget anything."

"You know, sometimes, I come out of my room, and I expect them to be sitting there still. I...it's stupid but-"

"It's not stupid. Of course it's not stupid. They were your family. You'll probably never grow out of something like that. A traumatic experience like that...it's only natural."

"Wish it wasn't," I muttered. "Every time I walk out, I remember."

"You remember it?"

I took a shaky breath.

_Angel?_

_Are you sure?_

_Yes._

I felt as Angel accessed my head and, in watching my memories, projected them onto my mind.

"Mum and dad and I were all in the living room. The doorbell rang. I answered it. There was a group of men there in suits. They said they were friends of my father's. That they had a business proposal or something. It was the middle of the day so I never suspected...I invited them in. They acted fine until the last guy had crossed the threshold. Two of them grabbed me and covered my mouth. I couldn't call out as the others all went into the living room. They...they grabbed my mum and dad. They made me watch."

My voice cracked and I couldn't say another word. The memory faded and I was left staring through tear-blurred vision at the stone wall opposite me. Edward's hand rested on my knee.

"I cannot imagine what you went through," he said quietly. "And what you've been through since then. Am I correct in saying that you've witnessed the death of all of your family members?"

"Yes," I muttered.

"My deepest condolences," said Edward. "But may I ask, why don't you push yourself?"

"What's the point?" I asked. "I'm going to die young too. There's no point."

"What do you mean 'there's no point'? If there was no point, there would be no Slayer. There is always a point. You will always have a purpose. You may not be able to solve all the world's problems or get rid of all the evil, but you will make a difference. You already have. Why not help your chances? Why not work yourself harder to become stronger? And who said that you'll die young? Some slayers live to a very old age."

"Yeah, the ones that never found out they were slayers," I said darkly.

"Mirany, you have the potential to be the strongest slayer since the original calling," said Edward seriously, "but only if you put in the work. That is my goal Mirany. I want to help you reach that potential, because I know you can. If you're anything like your parents, you can do that and more."

I considered him.

"You called me Mirany," I said, smiling.

"That's your name, isn't it?" he asked.

...

I pushed Angel away roughly when he came over to wrap his arms around me.

"Mirany-" he objected.

"No Angel! You did not have the right to ask him that!" I told him. "He only said so because he wanted to tell that story but he wasn't just going to come out with it! He was testing you just as much as you were testing him, but you still shouldn't have said anything! I mean, what's wrong with you? You say I'm socially crippled! You have no idea what's right or wrong to say to people! Do you walk around LA asking people what their deal is just because you can't read them from first glance?"

"Mirany, I'm your Warrior," Angel growled. "It's my job to protect you and if that means asking things of people that isn't usually acceptable then so be it!"

"I don't need protection every minute of the day Angel!" I said angrily. "And let's not forget the original reason as to why you are my Warrior, because that had nothing to do with protecting me! Why is it so entrenched in your mind that you have this duty to keep me safe?"

"I can't believe you're reacting like this! Wasn't it all over a good thing? At least you and Farthington can co-operate now!"

"Oh my God, that is not the point Angel! You are becoming obsessed! You have no idea of boundaries! And I'm sorry but the 'I'm a Warrior' excuse isn't going to cut it any more! I don't need protection every minute of the day Angel. I'm a big girl. As hard as it may be for you to believe, I can look after myself in the normal world. When I'm out fighting a demon, sure, I might need your help, but when I'm talking to another human being, I don't need you intervening to ask them if they're going to kill me or not!"

"Well perhaps if you were more responsible and mature and acted your age in the normal world, I wouldn't have to!" Angel snapped.

I glared daggers at him.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" I asked waspishly.

"I said you're irresponsible, immature and you don't act your age," said Angel matter-of-factly.

"Well, why don't you act your age and go back to your coffin!" I snarled. "GET OUT!"

"With pleasure," Angel sneered, stomping out of the room, slamming the door so hard the walls seemed to shake.

...

_Lilah,_

_What just happened? I think I just broke up with a person my body will not physically allow me to break up with. Or maybe it was just one of those fights. You know, the sort of fights that you both reflect on for two days until neither of you can stand to be away from the other any longer so you meet up and promise to never, ever fight again. Somehow, even if this wasn't the end, I don't think that this will be my last fight with Angel._

_I got a new Watcher. His name is Edward Farthington. He used to be a good friend of mum and dad's. At first, I just wanted him gone, but I think we're going to get along after all. It'll take some time before we finally come up with a good compromise (he reckons I should be training every day at six in the morning...yeah, cause that's gonna happen right?), but if we can work through the rocky acquaintanceship stage, I think I'm destined to go far with this guy._

_Well, I have to go. There's another confident I need to speak to._

_I love you,  
Mirany._

...

"Mirany, don't get me wrong here, I'm really sorry that you and dad had a fight but, I don't think I'm the right person you should be talking to about this," said Connor pointedly.

"Well who would you propose I talk to about it? The post man?" I asked sarcastically.

"No, I mean, I'm just saying that you might not find the type of sympathy you may want if you talk to me," Connor explained. "After all, I don't really care."

"Yeah well, at least I know when I talk to you I'm getting all of you, not just a part of you," I muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"Angel just...every time I see him it's like he's a different person. And not all those people are nice, and none of them willingly tell the truth if it's not necessary, unless he's in a really jaded mood. I just...he doesn't seem too...maybe it's just me reading into things too much. Maybe I need to take a step back or something. Not look at him quite so..."

"Closely," Connor finished for me. "I understand where you're coming from Mirany but, and try not to take offense here but, what did you expect? Seriously? He's a vampire with a soul. Two-hundred plus years of emotional baggage and you think he's going to be a stable guy? I have lived with him. I know exactly how bad he can get, and how good he can get, and every degree in between, and I can tell you now, he's not a stable guy."

"Yeah well, to top it all off, I think you were right. All he seems to care about is protecting me. He's alienating me and himself in the process. I keep thinking that soon he'll just pack me up and take me to the middle of Antarctica or something so that no one but him can get anywhere near me."

"Loves to protect you," said Connor. "I tried to tell you."

"I know. I know. But now what? Even if we can somehow make up, where do we go? He'll just get more protective, I'll just get more determined to shake him off a little, and on top of that, we literally can't separate. I can't just tell him it's over. God, I was such an idiot! What was I thinking? A Warrior's oath? The blood bond was bad enough but a Warrior's oath?"

"You can't change that now Mirany. You can't change any of it now," said Connor. "You can only change the future. So I think the first question you need to ask yourself is, do you see dad in your long term future?"

"Well, how can I not?" I asked. "He will always be there. Always. Warrior's bond. Blood bond. His blood thing..."

Connor scowled.

"I can't break any of that. They're all concrete. So I have to see Angel in my future."

"Okay, maybe a better question then is, do you see Angel in your future in the way he is currently in your life?" asked Connor.

I frowned at him, considering the question. Did I?


	52. Someone is Watching Part 2

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**Okay, it took a while but this one is a continuation from the last one. Enjoy :)**

* * *

**_"_****_And I wonder why we hold on, with tears in our eyes.  
_****_And I wonder why we have to break down, to just make things right.  
_****_And I wonder why I can't seem, to tell you goodbye.  
_****_Oh I wonder why._**

**_I don't wanna fight again tonight about the little things, please baby.  
I just wanna find my way back to love."  
_**

**_- I Wonder Why (Curtis Stigers)_**

* * *

**ANGEL**

I looked up as Connor entered.

"You and Mirany have a good chat?" I asked, somewhat bitterly. I knew what her feelings were for Connor at the moment. That little spell she'd had in the alternate reality hadn't helped matters.

"You have to go back to her. You have to apologize."

I looked at him shrewdly. Of all the things I had expected to come from Connor's mouth, that hadn't been on the list. I mean, I knew that I had to go back and apologize. I was the one that had acted stupidly. Yes, we'd both said stupid things, but what Mirany had said was true, and now that I had been alerted to it, I saw just how much I had been doing it. But why did Connor want me to go back when this was clearly the best time for him to try to change her mind about me.

"Why?"

Connor sighed.

"Because without you she won't survive," he muttered. "I mean, with you, she probably won't survive either but...you keep her sane and you have a connection that keeps you two together. You're supposed to stay together."

This must have been a seriously hard thing for Connor to say, but the fact that he was, the fact that he could see that, and that he wasn't still going after Mirany anyway, proved how good a friend he was to her. I considered him. Somewhere along that line, I had clearly done something right in raising him.

"It takes a very selfless man to do what you just did," I commented. "You make me a very proud father."

"Just go before I take it back," said Connor.

...

**MIRANY**

"What? The boy not give you good enough advice?" asked Dan. "Come to see if your friendly neighborhood bartender can be of service?"

"Only if 'service' means not talking and giving me a drink," I said pointedly.

"You know, I used to be useful to you!" said Dan indignantly.

"You're still useful. You have all sorts of liquors I would never think of buying usually," I said pointedly.

Dan sighed and poured out three shots, downing one himself, and pushing the other two to me.

"So, how you doing? Where's the boyfriend?"

"That is a good question," I said. "The last I heard, he was going back to his coffin."

"Had a fight?" asked Dan knowledgeably.

"Yeah," I sighed. "I said some things, he said some things. To top it all off, some random guy came from England to be my Watcher and it turns out that he was best friends with my parents. So now I have all these problems and no one to tell me how to handle them."

A man slid down onto the stool next to me.

"Are you lost? Because heaven's a long way from here," he said, leering at me.

I stared at him, my mouth hanging slightly open in surprise. Did he really just use that pick up line on me? Dan stood frozen, waiting for my reaction.

"Wanna blow this place and get a room?" asked the man, looking me up and down hungrily.

I turned back to Dan, scowling.

"Close your eyes."

He did so and my fist shot out to meet the guy's nose. He yelled in pain and shock, clutching his now bleeding and broken nose.

"Dude! She just assaulted me!" he said to Dan.

"I didn't see anything," said Dan truthfully. "What happened to him Mirany?"

"He slipped and hit his nose on the counter. You should really get that looked at," I told the guy.

"Yeah. Hard surfaces can really stuff a person up," said Dan. "Better make sure you're alright."

Muttering mutinously, the guy walked away.

"Do you have to beat up every guy that makes a move on you?" asked Dan.

"Hey, at least I'm consistent," I said.

"Look, I can't help you with your Watcher problems, but have you considered trying to sit down and talk things through with Angel calmly?" asked Dan. "I don't know the finer details, but with most relationships, it's about communication. I'm sure if you just tried to talk to him calmly, you might find that both of you had very legitimate reasons behind whatever insults you threw at each other."

"Since when did you become such an expert?" I asked.

"Hey, I've had ex-wives," said Dan.

"Then why should I be taking your relationship advice?"

"Because _I_ didn't take it," said Dan, smirking. "Look, I've seen the way he looks at you. I've seen the way you look at him. You two have something. Don't let one fight get to you. You two are meant to be together for a very long time. Not many people have the sort of love you two have. Don't let it go. I know there's something lingering with you and the other kid but...hasn't he had his shot?"

"Listen to the man. Bartenders know their stuff."

I looked around to find myself staring at Angel.

"Hey," he said, sitting down beside me. "Is it safe to sit here and think you look beautiful, or will you hit me too?"

"Saw that huh? Well, as long as you don't use any pick up lines, you should be alright. Give the man a drink Dan. He's gonna need it."

Angel shook his head at Dan, who got the message.

"I'm gonna leave you two alone," he said. "Have a nice talk. If you're going to fight, please take it outside."

He up and left as fast as his feet would carry him, and I was left sitting beside Angel, dreading the conversation I was about to have.

...

**ANGEL**

Mirany seized both the shot glasses in front of her and downed them at once, screwing up her face slightly as the liquid burned down her throat.

"Did you even consider the coffin?" she asked after a moment.

"No," I said. "Mirany, I'm so sorry."

Mirany didn't say anything.

"You know I didn't mean what I said," I continued. "And I understand where you're coming from. I didn't even know I was doing it Mirany."

Mirany shrugged slightly and gestured at Dan, who poured her another two shots, a disapproving look on his face. I took hold of her hand before she could drink the liquor.

"Mirany, look at me."

Mirany turned to face me grumpily.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"So am I," Mirany sighed. "I may have...overreacted because of my...emotional state. I was uh...I probably wasn't thinking straight."

"No, it was true. And I want you to know that I'm going to try to change that."

"I know," said Mirany quietly. "But it's not just that Angel. You change sometimes. You're not always-"

"Kind," I finished for her sadly. "I know."

I looked away from her.

"You know what it's like. To have a part of you that you have to keep constant tabs on. I try to control it...but sometimes it shows a little bit. And not even you would understand what it's like. The other side of me doesn't have a soul. So there are times when I can't show compassion or kindness."

I paused.

"It's not personal and I can't do anything about it. It's probably why I'm overprotective. It's not other people that I'm protecting you from. It's me. And I know I take it out on you a little, sometimes. And I'm sorry. I truly am. I wish I wasn't like this. I wish it all the time. But I am like this. It's hard. And I try my best to stop myself from taking anything out on you, but I won't always be able to stop myself. You're going to have to accept that. It's just who I am. So if you can, forgive me in advance?"

Mirany took hold of my hand.

"Will you give me a little while?" she asked. "To think everything through properly?"

"Of course," I said.

Mirany smiled slightly and slid off the counter stool, kissing me on the cheek before leaving the bar.

"I love you," I muttered after her.

"What are you doing man?" asked Dan, clearing away Mirany's glasses and the hundred dollar bill she'd managed to slip under them without my notice. "Getting yourself mixed up with…_that_."

I considered him.

"It's worth it. It's always worth it, in the end."

I flexed the hand with my Warrior's mark on it, staring at the pencil thin lines that made up the symbol.

"At least, it is for me."

Dan was about to speak again when the mark started to glow and pain began to flood through my torso. I gritted my teeth, griping the counter tightly.

"What's wrong?" asked Dan.

It wasn't the pain I had experienced when Mirany had almost died. It was different, but it was pain, and it was connected with the Warrior's bond, which meant that Mirany was in trouble.

"I have to go."

...

I didn't have to look far to find Mirany. She was maybe a block away, lying on the side of the road, near a large group of people, crowding around someone else.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked, crouching beside her and brushing her hair out of her face.

"I'm alright," Mirany groaned, pushing herself up onto her forearms. "Where is she? Is she okay?"

I looked back over at the crowd, who were slowly beginning to disperse, revealing a young girl getting shakily to her feet.

"Typical," Mirany muttered. "She scrapes her knee because I pushed her out of the line of a car and she gets all the attention, while I get hit by the car and the only person who cares is you."

"Isn't that enough?" I asked.

"A little recognition might be nice every now and then," said Mirany, running a hand over her rib cage. "I'm lucky I know how to land in a roll."

"You saved me."

Mirany and I both looked up at the girl, who was probably around seven or eight. She was short, with shoulder length honey-blonde hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a neat white dress and white flats, with sequins sewn into the dress at random. If it hadn't been for her head-dress, she wouldn't have been anything special. As it was, her head-dress was silver, and chains from it linked together to make the same mark that Mirany and I both had engraved into our skin.

"No worries," said Mirany, staring at the piece of jewelry.

"How old are you?" I asked her.

"Seven and five months," said the girl. "Thank you for saving me."

"What's your name?" Mirany asked, grabbing hold of my shoulder and pushing herself to her feet, squatting in front of the girl.

"Toni," said the girl.

"Where are your parents Toni?" I asked.

"I ran away," the girl declared. "My mummy was being mean."

"Well, I'm sure she didn't mean it," I said. "She's probably very worried about you, you know."

"Where did you get that head piece?" asked Mirany.

"My mummy gave it to me," said Toni. "She said I had to wear it all the time."

Mirany and I glanced at each other. What did this mean?

"Alright well, we should get you back to your mum," said Mirany. "Do you know where-?"

"Toni!"

We all turned to look at a woman marching towards us. She was tall, with the same hazel eyes as Toni and long, curly light brown hair. She was wearing a crisp business suit and came right up to us. Toni hid slightly behind Mirany's leg.

"You had me worried sick about you!"

She scooped up the girl, despite her attempts to hide, and hugged her tightly. She straightened up and turned to Mirany.

"I saw what you did. Thank you so much for saving my little girl," she said. "I got here as fast as I could. How can I repay you?"

"It's fine," said Mirany. "Just glad I saw her when I did."

"Well you have to let me do something. Surely there's something you want, or something I can do for you. If you want money I have more than-"

"I don't need anything," Mirany cut in. "It's fine. I just wanna get off my feet."

"Well, at least tell me your name," said the woman.

"Mirany Hunter," said Mirany. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch yours."

"Saria. Saria Overwood."

"Toni said she ran away," I said. "I don't mean to insinuate anything but…why would she say that?"

"Because she got in trouble," said Saria, frowning at her daughter. "I'm afraid I might have been a bit hard on her. But she was hanging out of a window of a five story building and she frightened me terribly."

_Hanging out of a building then walking in front of a car. Interesting._

Mirany frowned slightly.

_Suicidal tendencies at seven? I don't think so._

_Seven and five months._

"Well, I'm glad she's safe now," said Mirany, turning away, but Saria's hand whipped out to grab hold of her arm tightly.

We both stiffened. My Warrior's mark was still glowing slightly and I could feel, in the same arm, a tight pressure, even though there was nothing there, and I realized what was happening. Mirany and I were developing such a bond that we could feel, physically, what the other was feeling. Or at least, I could.

"I've heard of you before," she said. "You're the daughter of Mark Hunter, aren't you? More rich than anyone could imagine? My father did some business with yours. I'm holding a get together this weekend. Please come. It's the least I can do."

She glanced at me.

"Feel free to bring a date. If I could have your number I'll send you the details."

Mirany sighed.

"I suppose I can spare a night," she said eventually.

...

"I thought you wanted the recognition," I commented.

"Yeah, but when I knew who she was, I really didn't want it," said Mirany. "She's the daughter of a big business tycoon. Tyler Overwood. My father never liked him or his family. I met him once. He was a little...off."

"So why did you agree to go?" I asked.

Mirany handed me a beer and sat down in front of me.

"The girl was wearing a head piece with our mark on it. That mark is supposed to be unique to us. It was picture perfect. I'm sorry, but there is no way that was a coincidence. I wanna know what's going on."

I smirked slightly.

"You and me both."

I sat down beside her.

"So you felt when I got hit?" she asked.

"Yeah. And when she grabbed you," I said.

"Hell of a time for the bond to grow even stronger," Mirany muttered sarcastically.

"Hey."

I took hold of her hand.

"I love you. And I don't know just how much you need to think through, or what ideas Connor's put in your head or Dan or Farthington or anyone else, but I love _you_. Nothing else. So please Mirany, don't let go."

Mirany nodded slowly.

"I know," she said. "And I'm not going to Angel."

She snorted softly.

"Like I ever could. No, I love you Angel. I'm not going anywhere."

"Good, because we've got a problem that's going to need all the brain power we can muster," I said. "What do you know about this woman?"

"About as much as I know about the girl. Next to nothing," said Mirany. "But we can assume that she's probably a lot like her dad."

"Hmm, like someone else I know," I muttered.

"Being like _my_ dad is not a bad thing. Being like _her_ dad, is," said Mirany.

"Whatever you say love," I said, smirking.

Mirany scowled at me.

"My dad was cool!" she objected. "And you know it!"

"Yes Mirany, your dad was cool," I said, still smirking. "Continue with the other woman's family."

"Look, Tyler Overwood was a manipulative bastard, and therefore if she's anything like her dad..."

Mirany shuddered.

"Yeesh."

"So in knowing this, you agreed to go to her house-"

"Mansion," Mirany corrected. "Not as big as mine, but still."

"Mansion," I amended. "Anyway, you go there, and you go to this 'get together'-"

"Ball," Mirany cut in. "It's a ball. Get together is code for ball in rich people world."

"Noted," I said, somewhat sourly. "So, you go to this ball at this mansion, and then what? You're caught in her big business-y web?"

Mirany raised her eyebrows at me.

"You truly have no idea the amount of time I put into my own business webs, do you? I know when someone's trying to spin a cocoon around me. Trust me. I'm no fly in a web."

"Then why go?" I asked.

"Because she insisted," said Mirany, but by the tone of her voice, I knew she had an ulterior motive other than finding out about that little girl. "I couldn't say no."

"Look, whatever you're going to do, if it gets you killed, I want it noted that I couldn't do anything to prevent it," I said.

Mirany looked amused.

"Don't worry my big fluffy teddy bear of a warrior. Business hasn't gotten me killed yet and I don't intend to start now."

...

"Where's Mirany?" asked Farthington as I opened my office door. I didn't even know he knew where I lived.

"Well, and this is just a guess on my part but, she might be at her house," I said pointedly.

"She doesn't live in a house, she lives in a castle but that's really not the point," said Farthington. "She's not there. Where is she?"

_Where are you and why does your Watcher want you?_

_Oh right. Watcher. Tell him I'm out._

"She's out," I said.

"Where?" asked Farthington, almost threateningly.

"Look, she's not telling me, so I'm assuming she's probably shopping or murdering someone," I said. "And I don't know what plans you two had made but let me give you a little insight into Mirany. For the few times she's ever been on time, none of them have been for a training session. In fact, if you pre plan, she generally won't show up at all. You gotta just turn up unannounced. Don't plan anything with her. Most of the time, she's not doing anything as important as making sure she stays alive on patrol and she can't talk her way out of it."

_I think I possibly just made your situation worse._

_Angel, would it kill you to keep your mouth shut?_

_Yes._

Farthington was frowning at me, somewhat curiously.

"Is there anything else I should know about my delinquent slayer?"

I considered him.

"Delinquent might not be the right word," I said, frowning slightly. "She's not a delinquent per se just...actually, now that I think about it, it might describe her fairly well. Look, she's just...misguided. She's lived by herself for a long time and she's gotten into some habits. She likes to do her own thing, not follow the rules, make her way in life, you know? She doesn't really follow any orders, or any clock. I don't truly believe she has any real sense of time or safety. I don't know how well you've bonded with her but I can assure you, she's still probably not going to listen to you. She doesn't even really listen to me."

"Are you suggesting I should give up before I start?" asked Farthington.

"Wha- no!" I said at once. "As much as I know she's not going to follow a single order you give her, I also know that eventually she'll cotton onto the fact that you're trying to help and she'll improve...hopefully."

_What terrible lies are you spreading about me?_

_I would never lie about you._

_What about to me?_

_Absolutely not._

_You're lying to me._

I smirked slightly.

"Will you please pass on a message then?" asked Farthington, apparently resigned to the fact that Mirany was deliberately avoiding him.

"Sure," I said.

"Tell her I'm going to work her so hard she'll be sweating blood next training."

"Oh, trust me, it's harder than it sounds," I said.

"Just tell her," said Farthington. "It was...enlightening to talk to you Angel. Until next time."

"Yeah," I said, rolling my eyes. He just couldn't admit that he liked me, could he? "I'll tell her."

...

I stared as Mirany appeared from her room.

"Oh god. How am I supposed to act normally next to...next to that?"

She was in a gold dress, slim down to her waist then splaying out down to her feet. It didn't have sleeves, but she had matching gloves on, which stretched to half way up her upper arm. There were thin gold lines running in swirling patterns down the dress, and I could just see the tips of golden shoes beneath it. Most of her hair was tied back into a swirl at the back of her head, but some of it was free of the knot, curled and resting on her shoulders.

"Thank...you?"

"Holy...you look..."

I couldn't finish anything I started.

"I thought the idea of going to a party was to not look better than the host," I said.

"Not a party," she said simply, tossing me her keys. "Hop to it. You're driving."

...

"Miss Hunter! I'm so glad you could join us. You look beautiful," said Saria as someone showed us into the ballroom.

She looked almost as stunning as Mirany in a forest green dress and silver gloves and jewelry. Almost as stunning. The ballroom was moderately full, and there were a few couples on the dance floor, swaying in time to music played by a band on a slightly elevated platform nearby.

"Uh, it's Mirany," said Mirany awkwardly. "And thank you."

"Of course. Mirany. And I'm sorry, I never got your name," she said, holding out her hand to me.

"Angel," I said, taking the gloved hand and kissing it gently. "You have a beautiful home."

"Thank you Angel," said Saria. "Please, get yourselves a drink. I'll introduce you."

She gestured at a waiter with a tray of champagne glasses to come over as she led us to a small group of four people nearby.

"Everyone, this is Mirany Hunter. The young lady I was telling you about who saved my Toni. Mirany, Angel, these are Harry Graine, Charlotte Mayson, Fray Yoren and Tara Ragar."

"Nice to meet you," Mirany muttered. "Uh...is Toni here?"

"She's upstairs getting ready," said Saria.

"It sounds like you were very brave," said Harry. "I like that in a girl."

He was around his mid forties, in a neat black suit, a little rounded with a bit of a receding hair line, and smelt like red wine and cigars. Mirany's eyes narrowed.

"Don't hit on me dude, I'm in a dress that is restricting my breathing, I'm in heels that are killing my feet, and in case you haven't noticed, I have a boy toy already."

I cleared my throat pointedly, but kept my arm firmly around her waist in any case.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"Uh well, yes," said Saria. "Oh look, you might know these people. They were in my father's business circle as well."

She pulled us away before Mirany could cause any more damage with her friends, over to a larger group of people, all laughing heartily. I heard Mirany groan slightly.

"These people were never supposed to see me in a dress," she muttered under her breath. "This is ruining my whole reputation."

I smirked as some of them acknowledged Mirany's presence.

"Mirany Hunter. Well I never," said a large, portly man. "You actually look like a girl. And a male date and everything. And to think I thought you were going to swing the other way."

I snorted as some of the others around the circle chortled appreciatively. Mirany tried to smile, but it looked far more like a grimace.

"Thanks Thomas. I can always count on you to embarrass me severely."

Thomas bowed slightly.

"You're most welcome my love," he said, smiling. "How did you meet young Saria here? I thought your fathers weren't very...compatible."

"She pushed Toni out of a car's way," said Saria.

"Oh wow," said a tall blonde woman. "Quite daring of you."

"It really wasn't a big deal," Mirany muttered.

"Ha! Wait till she has a couple more drinks in her, then she'll be singing a different tune!" said Thomas loudly.

"I think perhaps you could benefit from laying _off_ the drinks Thomas," said Saria pointedly. "Oh, how rude of me, I haven't introduced you all. Everyone this is Mirany Hunter and Angel. Mirany, Angel, you've met Thomas, that's Ruby..."

The blonde woman waved slightly.

"...Joseph..."

A small, skinny man with mousy brown hair shook both our hands.

"...Leanne..."

A stumpy, rosy cheeked woman smiled politely.

"...Walter..."

"How do you do?" asked an older man with greying hair and glasses.

"...and Andrew," said Saria.

"We've met actually," said the young man. "Done a bit of dealing together ourselves, right Mirany?"

"If you can call begging me to buy your stuff 'dealing', then yes," said Mirany.

Andrew, a tall man with three-day-stubble and golden hair, frowned at her.

"Well, I wouldn't call it begging," he muttered.

"So Angel, how much is she paying you to join us tonight?" asked Thomas.

"I don't measure payment in dollars," I said simply.

_There is no way on Earth you are getting paid now._

_Wanna bet?_

Thomas looked very pleased with my answer.

"Mirany, what went through your mind? Were you scared?" asked Leanne.

"Uh...well...adrenaline, you know. Didn't really think much," said Mirany. "I really...it's not a big deal."

"Oh, don't be so modest," I said, sadistically enjoying watching her reaction to the recognition that she had wanted. "I could have sworn I saw the car hit you. It was going very fast. You were amazingly brave. I certainly couldn't have done such a thing."

_I'm going to kill you._

_I dare you to try._

"Oh my. You didn't get hurt, did you?" asked Walter.

"No! He's exaggerating," said Mirany through gritted teeth, glaring at me. "He does that. It was only going at twenty or something. I mean- Hey look, it's Toni!"

"Tactful," I whispered in her ear as everyone else turned to see the little girl enter the ballroom.

"You aren't going to be able to cross your legs for weeks after I'm through with you tonight," Mirany hissed.

I smirked.

"I thought you said I wasn't going to be paid."

Before she could reply, Saria had brought Toni over. She was in a silver dress, matching the head piece she still wore.

"Hi Toni. You look adorable!" said Leanne.

"Toni, do you remember Mirany?" asked Saria.

"Hi hon," said Mirany, kneeling in front of her. "How are you?"

"Hi! You look pretty," said Toni.

"Aw, shucks. Thank you. So do you," said Mirany. "I really like your head piece."

"Speaking of," I said to Saria, "that is a very unique piece of jewelry she has there. Where did you get it?"

"It just came to me one day," said Saria. "And I got it made. I thought it would be a nice symbol of our love."

"How long ago?" I asked.

"Almost a year," said Saria. "Why?"

_Hear that? Timing matches up pretty darn close._

_Oh yeah._

Mirany straightened up.

"Where'd you get it done? I really want one," she said.

"It's kind of special to just us," said Saria.

"Fair enough," said Mirany, downing the glass she still held and shoving it into my hand. "Toni, I would love to see your room."

"I'll show you!" said the girl excitedly, taking Mirany's hand and dragging her away, up the stairs and out of sight.

"I have to thank you for inviting us," I said to Saria. "I've never seen her open up around a child like this before."

"Toni's very special," said Saria sincerely. "She has a way of finding people's hearts."

"Huh. I didn't even know Mirany had one," I muttered.

Thomas chuckled at this.

"She got you on a tight leash eh sonny?" he asked.

"You have no idea," I said.

_If you say one more word about me I will rip out your insides and laugh maniacally while you scream in pain._

I swallowed.

"So Thomas, how do you know Mirany?" I asked.

"Oh, me and her father went way back," said Thomas. "I used to go over to their house often, we'd do some business, have a couple of drinks, I'd hang Mirany upside down a couple of times and I'd go home. Whenever there was someone else over I'd make sure to embarrass her with stories of when she was light enough for me to spin around as well. Oh boy, there are so many things I could tell you."

"Uh, just to make it clear, I'm alright without the stories," I said. "But that means you knew her when she was tenish right?"

"Absolutely."

"So you would have known her when she was still...happy?"

Thomas frowned slightly.

"For a while. Then I came over one day, she would have been about fourteen and suddenly hanging from the second story window wasn't fun. She got really moody. I thought it was just teenager stuff. Don't tell me she's still like that."

_You were called at fourteen, weren't you?_

_Drop it Angel._

"Well, guess it's going to remain a mystery," I said.

"Mummy! Can I dance with Tommy?" asked Toni, running back down the stairs.

"Only if Tommy can handle it," said Saria.

"Come here baby! I'll spin you fast!" said Tommy, scooping up the young girl and moving towards the dance floor.

"Wait, where's-" I started, but I stopped dead when I saw Mirany walking down the stairs, the patterns on her dress sparkling in the light of the candelabra, hair gleaming as she made her way back down the stairs. "Holy smokes. Wow."

Discarding the glasses I was holding, and completely ignoring the words I knew someone was saying to me, I made my way to the bottom of the stairs. Mirany smiled at me as she got closer.

"Yes Angel?"

It took a moment for me to get my brain to work again.

"Dance," I said finally. "With me?"

Mirany took my hand and I led her over to the dance floor.

"If I must," she said, smirking slightly.

"Well look at that. Dancing as well. I'll be damned," mutter Thomas in my ear as he and Toni swirled past us.

"Shut up Thomas," Mirany muttered.

Thomas winked at her and moved away.

"He's not wrong you know. The number of times you've looked like a girl around anyone is next to none," I said. "Wouldn't hurt to branch out into female clothes a little more often. You do look beautiful in them."

Mirany smiled at her feet.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Maybe," said Mirany cautiously.

"You were going to make a choice. Between me and Connor, right?"

"Not necessarily. I could have not chosen either of you," said Mirany.

"Alright," I conceded. "But, let's assume that it was just me or Connor, why did you choose me?"

Mirany smiled.

"Not once in my time that I've known Connor has he called me beautiful," she said.

I kissed her softly.

"Connor's a fool," I muttered.

"That's your son you're talking about," said Mirany, smirking at me.

I shrugged.

"Meh," I said. "He's old enough to hold his own by now."

Mirany giggled.

"You're a terrible father."

"Meh."

Mirany grinned happily and pulled me off the dance floor as the music stopped, over to a table with Thomas, Toni and Saria. Thomas was playing magic tricks on Toni, and Saria was cleverly being his accomplice, swearing point blank to Toni that she never saw the coin go into Thomas' other hand.

"Oh, here are the two love birds. You know Toni, Mirany always loved magic tricks," said Thomas as we sat down. "Bet I could still pull a fast one on you Mir."

"How much you betting?" asked Mirany.

"Fifty?"

"Done."

Thomas winked at me as he got up and lent on the table in front of Mirany.

"Think of any number in the world."

Mirany raised an eyebrow at him but paused all the same.

_Forty-one._

_Why forty-one?_

_Because it is the oldest I will willingly live to._

_Of course._

"Now, watch this coin, and only think of that number," said Thomas, pulling a silver coin from his pocket.

Mirany sighed and watched impatiently as Thomas waved the little metal object in her face.

"Now, I'm going to click my fingers, and the coin is going to disappear."

Thomas clicked his fingers, and the coin 'disappeared'. Mirany raised an eyebrow at him.

"That's the best you got?" she asked.

"I'm not done yet. When I click my fingers again, that coin is going to reappear with the number you were thinking of written on it," said Thomas.

Mirany smirked as Thomas clicked his fingers and the coin 'reappeared'. He flipped it over and showed the face to Mirany.

"Is this the number you were thinking of?"

Mirany stared at the coin in shock, then up at Thomas.

"I hate you," she muttered, digging in my breast pocket for the money she'd made me carry and handing Thomas the fifty. "I still can't figure that one out! How do you do it?"

Thomas winked again.

"A magician never reveals his secrets," he said.

"I want a go!" said Toni.

"How about you and Angel try to work out Thomas' trick while I have a quick word with Mirany?" suggested Saria, getting to her feet and looking pointedly at Mirany.

Mirany frowned slightly, but got to her feet.

"Yeah, sounds good," she said.

_You need me?_

_I'll let you know._

As Saria and Mirany moved away, I slid into the seat next to Thomas.

"How did you do that?" I asked.

Thomas chuckled.

"Mirany's been thinking of forty-one since she was eleven," he said, smirking. "I cottoned on pretty quickly, had a coin made."

I smirked.

"So, what was Mirany like before she...changed?" I asked.

"Like Toni," said Thomas simply. "Really happy and innocent all the time. She could light up any room, no matter what the mood. You couldn't not love her."

...

**MIRANY**

"Is there something wrong?" I asked Saria.

"Why are you here?" asked Saria coolly.

"Uh...because you invited me?" I tried.

"That's not why you're here. You're here for something else."

"Like what?" I asked skeptically.

"You can't get to my company through my daughter," said Saria.

I smirked.

"Why would I want to get to your company? I have a much more lucrative company," I said. "In fact, I have several much more lucrative companies."

"I don't know, I don't care, you can't get to it through Toni," said Saria. "What's your interest in her?"

I stared at her.

"I saved her life, I want to make sure she's alright," I said.

"Look, I am beyond grateful you saved her life but I don't want you pulling any tricks on my family, particularly not Toni. She's seven years old. You can't commit corporate espionage through her, she won't understand. I don't want her hurt."

"Neither do I," I said warningly. "But I am just a little bit curious as to why your seven year old daughter is scared of you and doesn't know that cars aren't your friends."

"Toni's not scared of me!" Saria snapped, her eyes flashing.

"Well, she was certainly scared of something yesterday when you arrived. She tried to hide."

Saria glared at me.

"I think perhaps it's time you left," she growled. "Stay away from my daughter."

"You know, you're right. I need to get home. Have to get up early and take care of my many far-more-lucrative-than-yours businesses," I said coolly. "See you around Saria."

Angel looked over as I moved away.

_Okay, if you don't want me killed, we're leaving now._

Angel muttered something to Thomas and Toni before joining me as I made my way to the door.

"Have a nice talk?" he asked.

"Yeah, just some friendly threats between business women," I said casually.

"So, nothing out of the ordinary then?" asked Angel, smirking.

...

"You were called...what? Seven years ago?"

"Yeah, seven and a half," I said, sitting down on a couch and beckoning Maia up onto my legs. "Why?"

"I know what the connection is with Tori," said Angel.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"She's you," said Angel, sitting down beside me and scratching Maia's stomach.

I stared at him.

"Excuse me? Wouldn't I know if a younger me was walking around?"

"You do know," said Angel. "Or, your body does. She's not you exactly. She's your soul."

"You're saying I don't have a soul?" I asked. "That Toni's stole it?"

"No," said Angel, smiling slightly. "Let me explain. The Slayer's soul is passed on when the Slayer dies, to the next Slayer. A body can't hold more than one soul at once, so when you got the soul of the Slayer, your old soul left. Toni, I have no doubt, was born then, and took up your soul. She's the old you. You wanna know why you don't like your childhood? Because the soul you currently have doesn't register it as your childhood. When you saw Toni, your body reached out to it's original soul. That's how you're connected. That's why Saria gave Toni that head piece the day we took the Warrior's oath. Your original soul is still somewhat connected to you, so it is a part of the oath."

I stared at him.

"So Toni's...me?" I asked.

"In a way, yes," said Angel.

"Well that's unexpected," I muttered.

"You need to get closer to her," said Angel. "There's something about her mother Mirany that I really don't like, and I know Toni knows it."

"I know," I said, frowning. "I just don't know how I'm going to do that."

"You'll figure it out," said Angel, smiling and throwing a tennis ball across the room, causing Maia to spring to her feet and chase after it.

Taking her vacant spot, Angel lay down with his head in my lap.

"I'm not rubbing your belly," I informed him, running my fingers through his hair.

Angel chuckled and reached up to kiss me.

...

_Lilah,_

_Did you ever meet Tyler Overwood? Well, he has a daughter, who has a daughter, who has my soul. I saved her life and she had out warrior's mark. Angel figured out that she got my old soul when the soul of the Slayer was given to me. It's a little confusing, I know, but it makes sense right? Toni was born when I became the slayer and it can't be a coincidence that her mother gave her jewelry with our mark in it around the same time was took the oath._

_I chose Angel. It made sense. In a way, I don't think Connor is disappointed. He seems alright. I don't know, maybe he's just getting better at hiding what he feels._

_Things are going to pick up I think. The Overwood's aren't people to meddle with, but we're going to. We're going to have to get ready for a real show down I reckon._

_Well, I guess I'll talk to you soon,_

_Mirany._


	53. Lost

**_"We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided...differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open." - Albus Dumbledore_**

* * *

"What do you mean 'my technique's wrong'?" I asked indignantly. "It's been working alright for the past seven years, some of which, I might add, were watched over by two Watchers, neither of which complained that my technique was wrong!"

"I mean, your technique's wrong," said Farthingon simply.

"Angel!" I whined.

"I'm not sticking up for you this time. Fight your own fights," said Angel. "I, personally, know he's right, because I've been telling you that for the past few months, but if you're still adamant that it's not, sort it out yourself."

"How can my technique be wrong?" I asked. "It's throwing a punch, not performing Swan Lake!"

"Your hook is wide and predictable," said Farthington.

I huffed.

"Is not," I muttered.

"Then you'll have no problem with going through the action slowly, just so that I can make sure," said Farthington.

I glared at him.

"You're kidding right?" I asked.

Farthington raised his eyebrows at me pointedly.

"Angel!" I whined again.

"Just admit that you're wrong Mirany, then he fix it and you can continue," said Angel.

I growled.

"Fine," I hissed. "Fix it."

"That wasn't too hard now, was it?" asked Farthington and Angel together.

"I hate you all," I muttered.

Farthington turned me to face one of the punching bags and took hold of my fist.

"When you perform a hook, you start, as though you're just hitting straight through. Then about halfway through the action, you hook your wrist and arm. You don't start in a hook and bring your fist right around, and you don't lean back either. Fist starts forward, then hooks to the side when it's too late for your opponent to do anything about it."

I sighed.

"I'll try to keep that in mind," I growled, determined not to kill him.

"Good, start again," said Farthington.

I stared at him.

"We've been doing this for three hours!" I complained. "I'm tired! Angel!"

"Oh my god Mirany, I'm your Warrior not your babysitter!" said Angel pointedly.

"We've been at it for two hours and forty-seven minutes. When we've been at it for three hours, then we can finish," said Farthington.

I frowned.

"We're finishing now," I said firmly.

"Oh really?" asked Farthington. "How exactly do you plan on leaving when the doors are locked?"

"I _own_ this house!" I said pointedly. "I have _keys_!"

"Oh, you mean these?" asked Angel, holding up my key chain.

I glared at him.

"Oh, I'm going to kill you," I muttered fervently.

"Killing later, training now," said Farthington impatiently.

"Let me amend that statement. If I live through the next thirteen minutes, then I'll kill you," I said.

...

"Yes, you're definitely killing me," said Angel sarcastically.

"Is it done yet?" I asked.

"Yes," said Angel, running his fingers through my hair.

"Thank god," I muttered, searching for the remote and turning the DVD off. "Never again. Never, ever, ever again."

Angel smiled as I brought my head out from behind his shoulder.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll have serious nightmares tonight, but I'm alright at the moment."

"Hold on a second. You're the Slayer. You cut up demons and vampires on a daily basis but you can't take a horror movie?"

"The Human Centipede is a twisted and disturbing movie!" I said defensively. "Any sane person would hate it!"

Angel smirked.

"Whatever you say," he said. "I found it interesting."

I stared at him.

"You disgust me," I muttered.

"It'll never happen Mirany," Angel reasoned.

"No, but the image of a long chain of humans sewed together will stay in my head for ever," I shuddered.

Angel chuckled.

"Next time you might consider taking my advice and watching something that sounds a little less disturbing," he suggested as the phone rang.

"Yeah, like that'll ever happen," I muttered, answering the phone. "Hunter."

_"Listen very carefully. Someone is buying out all my stocks and I know perfectly well it's you. Back. Off."_

"Oh hi Saria. How's Toni?"

_"Hunter, you are playing at my last nerve. You said very clearly that you didn't want my company. If that's the case, you need to leave the stocks alone, do I make myself clear? And why do you care?"_

"I haven't been buying all your stocks, and all I asked was how's Toni. Since she's your daughter, I assumed you'd be able to give me an answer," I said coolly. "It's not as if I asked for her social security number."

_"Toni's fine!"_ Saria snapped. _"She's just great. Since your last visit she's talked incessantly about you and wanted to invite you over every day, and I'm running out of excuses. If you haven't been buying all my stocks, who has?"_

"I don't know, have you tried checking?" I asked pointedly. "And why are you telling excuses? I'm happy to come over."

_"Because I don't like you and I don't want you around my daughter!"_ said Saria angrily.

"That's not very friendly," I commented.

_"I'm not a friendly person. Leave her alone."_

"I thought we were talking about your company," I said.

_"Leave that alone too!"_

She hung up abruptly. I looked up at Angel.

"She doesn't like me," I said casually.

"Can't imagine why," said Angel sarcastically.

...

"Hey! I do so have a life!" I objected.

Cordelia raised an eyebrow at me.

"When was the last time you went to the mall with some friends just because you could?" she asked.

I paused.

"I said I had a life, I didn't say I had friends," I muttered.

"You need to get out more. Get involved in some clubs or societies. Get to know more people. God knows you could do with getting away from us every now and then."

"I love you too," I muttered sarcastically. "Look, is Connor here or not?"

"Oh right. Connor. Uh, yeah, I think he's upstairs," said Cordelia. "Uh...I wouldn't go up there if I were you though."

"Why? Who's the bimbo he's got with him this time?" I asked.

Cordelia shook her head.

"No bimbo, just a really pissed of twenty-two-year-old," she said. "He's going through a rough patch. I think he could really do with a bimbo."

"I'll alert the media," I said sarcastically, walking up the stairs. "CONNOR! YOUR FAVOURITE EX IS HERE!"

Connor's door opened down the hallway and he emerged, scowling.

"I'm not in the mood to listen to your problems right now Mirany," he growled.

"I can see that," I commented, peering into his apartment and finding the place in shambles. "Need any help? I know a guy. Does some amazing work with a wrecking ball."

"What do you want Mirany?" asked Connor impatiently, closing the door and leaning against it, barring my entrance. His words sounded a little slurred.

"Well, you haven't spoken to me for two weeks so I was a little concerned as to what it was that I had done," I said slowly. "Connor, are you drunk?"

"No," said Connor at once.

"Okay then. What's bothering you?"

"Nothing," Connor snapped.

I gave him an exasperated look.

"Connor, you pulled apart your room," I said pointedly. "I only got a glimpse, but it looked to me like World War Three had been fought in there. You're clearly under the influence of something as seeing as Angel would most definitely know if you were on drugs and would kill you in a second, I'm assuming it's alcohol, which I've never seen you abuse before. There's clearly something bothering you."

Connor looked away, his jaw set.

"Hey," I said, trying to catch his eye, but he wouldn't look at me. "What's wrong?"

He wouldn't answer.

"Connor, I will get Cordelia up here," I threatened.

Connor sighed and opened his door.

"Sit down," he said, standing aside and letting me in. "Want a drink?"

"How could I possibly not, walking into this pigsty?" I asked, staring around the place in quiet horror. "This is worse than the movie I just saw."

"Yeah? Why? You just watch Miss Congeniality?" asked Connor.

"Hey! That is a timeless classic!" I objected.

"After watching it fifty million times with you, I have a very convincing argument against that statement," said Connor.

"Angel likes it."

"Angle likes _you_. He puts up with the movies," said Connor. "Just like I did."

I frowned.

"Since when were we talking about me? We're talking about you."

Connor reached under his bed and pulled out a couple of glasses and a bottle of scotch.

"Drink?" he grunted.

I shrugged. Connor took that as a yes and poured two glasses, both of which were about five times too full. I raised my eyebrows in silent surprise as he passed me a glass full right to the brim of the amber liquid.

"Wow, okay. Um...thank you?" I guessed.

Connor leant against the door and down half the glass.

"Connor, if you're gonna turn into an alcoholic, I'll support you all the way, but do you think you could do your drinking at Dan's so that he can cut you off?" I asked.

"Because he cuts you off all the time," said Connor sarcastically.

"I can ruin him. You can't," I said pointedly. "Connor, if you're mad at me for choosing Angel, just say so."

Connor snorted distastefully, taking great gulps of his scotch.

"Mad at _you_? I'm not mad at you Mirany."

"Then who are you mad at?" I asked. "Because god knows, you're mad at someone."

"Me," Connor grunted. "I'm mad at me."

"Why?" I asked.

"Why? Because I had a chance. I had a chance! And I gave it away."

"A chance at what Connor?" I asked. "Why won't you just talk to me?"

"How can I? How can I talk to you when it's _you_ that I gave away?" Connor burst.

I stared at him.

"What?"

"After I talked to you, I went back to Angel," said Connor, sitting down next to me. "I told him to go back to you. He was going to already, but I told him I wanted him to. I told him to go back to you straight away. For you. Because I see you two and I see what he is for you, what he does for you. He's killing you, but he's a part of you and I know you can't live without him and that no matter what, even if you were with me, you'd still have all those bonds and you'd have a better relationship with him anyway. So I told him to go back to you and make you take him back. I threw away my chance...for him."

I took the glass out of his hand before he could knock himself out with the strong liquor and took hold of either side of his face, forcing him to look right into my eyes.

"If you just lied to me Connor, if one single word of that wasn't true, I will hate you for the rest of my life, do you understand me? Tell me that what you just said then was the absolute truth."

Connor nodded.

"Connor, you didn't throw away your chance for him," I said. "You did it for me. You just said so. And I'm honored to have a friend that can put aside his feelings for me in order to do what he believes was right. You have no idea how it makes me feel to know I have someone like that as my best friend. And, I know it must have been hard for you to do something like that, but you can't do this to yourself. I don't want to see you heading down a road that has any parallels to my own, okay?"

There were legitimate tears in Connor's eyes.

"I love you so much," he said quietly. "I love you and I let you get away from me...because I love you. I don't understand Mirany."

I pulled him into my chest. Connor was crying on my shoulder. Connor...crying. I didn't know what to do. Sure, most of it was drunk tears, but there was feeling behind it. How was this possible? This was supposed to be the other way around. _I_ was supposed to be crying on _his_ chest. What was happening to the world?

"It's alright," I said quietly. "It's alright. You still have me Connor. I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere. You'll always have me."

Jesus Christ. How much of a mess could I make out of one fight?

"No. No, you're going to go. You're going to leave me. You're going to leave with dad and you'll leave me alone, and I can't be alone any more Mirany! I can't do it! I don't want to be alone!"

He was lonely. Connor was...oh.

"Connor. You're not alone, I'm not going to leave. I promise. You're never alone."

...

"Mirany!"

Angel looked surprised I was there as he walked into his office.

"I thought I was going to meet you at your place," he said, shoving a knife and stake into his desk drawer and pushing my feet off the surface.

"I wanted to talk to Connor. He was being a little...distant."

"I'm not the only one that thinks that then," Angel muttered.

"You know he's drinking scotch by the litre right?" I asked.

Angel sighed.

"Yeah," he said. "But I can't stop him. He's an adult. I can't do anything about it."

"Do you know why?" I asked.

"I can guess," said Angel, looking at me pointedly. "He told you, didn't he?"

"Yeah," I said shortly. "Angel, he cried on me. He scared me. I've never seen him like that."

I paused.

"I didn't realise how lonely he was. Maybe...maybe if I'd said something or-"

"Mirany."

Angel knelt in front of me.

"You can't blame yourself for Connor's feelings. Yes, he's lonely, but that's hardly your fault. He doesn't do anything to stop that. He doesn't go out and meet new people or anything. He hasn't done it since Bella. Connor's made himself lonely. He's fixated on you because he doesn't have anyone else to love. You can't blame yourself for that."

I sighed.

"He just...I've never seen Connor like that Angel. It's not right."

"Yeah, I know. Look Mirany, I'm sure-"

Angel was cut off by my phone. I sighed and answered it.

"Hunter."

_"Hunter, tell me you have her."_

"What? Saria?"

_"She is with you, right?"_

"Who?"

_"Toni! She got angry at me and said she'd go find you herself and she ran off! Tell me she's with you!"_

"No," I said. "Have you tried calling her?"

_"She's seven numb skull! She doesn't own a cell phone!"_

"Alright. I'll get some people together and we'll help you look. How did she expect to find me?"

_"She looked up your address on the internet but I called your place and they said no one had come. If anything happens-"_

"Nothing will happen to her Saria. Look, she's got to be somewhere in between right? I'll gather some people, we'll meet at mine and we'll do a sweep, okay? She'll be okay. I'll see you soon."

I hung up.

"Toni?" asked Angel.

"Missing," I said. "Get everyone here over to mine. I'll get Farthington. See you there."

...

"Stay here," Angel told Cordelia. "If she manages to get here, call us."

"Okay, she can't be too far away, it's not a huge hike or anything," I said. "But there are a few foresty type parks in the area. My guess is she's in one of those. How long ago did she leave?"

"I don't know. We fought maybe two hours ago and I went in on check on her maybe an hour later and she was gone," said Saria.

"Alright. So by now she's probably a little scared and hungry. If she hears any of us, she'll come," said Angel. "After all, it's dark now, some of those parks can look a little spooky at night, and she's probably pretty tired too. She may even try to go back to your place."

"I have Thomas there," said Saria. "He'll call if she appears."

"Alright."

I tossed everyone a flashlight.

"Let's go."

...

"I can't believe this! She could be anywhere!" said Saria frustratedly. "We've been looking for an hour. You know, this is all your fault!"

"_My_ fault? How can it be my fault?" I asked angrily. "You're the one that was so controlling you won't even let her out of the house without ten body guards!"

"She's fragile!"

"She nearly got hit by a car! She didn't seem too fragile when she was helping me pick up the little bits of myself off the pavement!"

"What?" asked Farthington furiously. "You got hit by a car and you didn't tell me?!"

"Why would she tell _you_?" Angel snapped. "You tell her off for breathing out of time!"

Maia barked loudly, jeering up in the heat of the fight.

"Hey, you're not allowed to complain about how he treats her!" said Connor angrily. "You're the one that's biting her on a regular basis."

"Don't you even start!" Angel growled. "You're the one that's turning into an alcoholic because you told me to go back to her!"

"_She_ has a name!" I snapped at them before turning back to Saria. "And I can't believe _you'd_ blame_ me_ for _your_ daughter running away! And FYI, this is not the first time she's run away! You wanna know what the common denominator is here? You!"

Maia growled at her as I glared.

"Don't you dare pin this on me! I have done nothing but try to protect my daughter!"

"Well you're doing a truly amazing job," I said sarcastically.

"Would _you_ like to try and take care of her?" Saria snapped.

Angel snorted.

"Like she could ever take care of a kid," he said.

"What?" I snarled.

"You're selfish, immature, impulsive, and have serious anger issues," said Farthington. "And that's just the tip of the iceberg. What on earth makes you think you could ever be a parent?"

Maia barked loudly again, but she almost couldn't be heard over the rest of us.

"I was going to be a parent of two of the little prawns!" I growled. "I was pregnant with _his_ children!"

I jabbed a finger at Connor.

"Yeah, in another universe," said Connor. "One, which I might add, that you swore up and down you wouldn't try to recreate! You were happy there! _We_ were happy there! It couldn't have been so terrible to give it a try!"

"Please," said Angel. "Why on earth would she try to have children with you? Two drunken, temper challenged people having kids. I wonder how long that would last."

"Drunken? You're a drunkard too? I'm noticing my information on you is sadly lacking!" Farthington growled. "What else don't I know about you that might seriously affect your ability to do anything of use in your position?"

"What? Murder not enough for you?" asked Connor.

"You're a murderer?" Saria all but howled. "And yet you wonder why I didn't want my kid anywhere near you!"

"No I'm not!" I said hotly, glaring at Connor and wishing Saria wasn't here so that I could order Maia to maul him. "Unless you count breaking _his_ tiny little heart into tiny little pieces as murder."

"ENOUGH!"

We all fell silent abruptly, and looked over at Wesley. In all the fighting, I had completely forgotten he was here.

"Listen to you all," he said. "We're acting like children. You're adults for god's sake! All of you! And may I point out you seem to have completely forgotten why you're here? We're looking for a lost, scared little girl and you're trying to tear each other apart. This is stupid. None of you hate each other, and even if you did, it still wouldn't condone this sort of behaviour. If we're going to find her out here at night, we're going to have to work together. So stop blaming each other for your own miss-comings and remember why you're here. There's no room for this at the moment. There's no room for this ever. Treat each other the way you deserve and get back to the task at hand!"

He moved away, further into the park, and left us biting our lips and staring at our feet.

"He's right," said Angel. "We've got a job to do, and we have to work together. Let's all just shake hands and deal with our problems later, alright?"

In silent agreement, we shook hands and followed Wesley further into the park.

"I'm sorry," I said to Saria quietly. "I can't imagine what it must be like, taking care of a kid. I'm sure you're a great mother."

"And I in turn am sorry I've been so cold," said Saria. "Everything's been very stressful lately and I took it out on you."

I shrugged.

"What are enemies for?" I asked nonchalantly.

Saria nodded slightly, wringing her hands.

"Don't worry, we'll find her," I said. "You wouldn't happen to have something of hers on you, would you? Maia's a great tracker."

Saria handed me a tiny jumper and I knelt down beside Maia.

"Take a good whiff," I told the dog. "You're a better tracker than I am."

Maia sniffed at the jumper before barking and beginning to sniff at the ground as we moved through the park. It really was quite haunting at night. We walked without speaking to each other again, calling Toni's name and staring around desperately, but with little luck.

We had been walking for maybe another twenty minutes when I noticed Maia beginning to trot in a straight line rather than all over the place, and when someone called again, I heard a small reply. Following Maia at a jog, I moved towards the noise.

"Toni?"

"Mummy?"

Toni sounded scared, and close by. Maia had disappeared into a little clump of trees, but I soon found her nuzzling the little girl, who was curled up at the bottom of a tree, crying.

"Hey Toni," I said, squatting in front of her. "Your mum is so worried about you. Why did you run off?"

"I wanted to see you," said Toni, hugging my neck. "I got lost. I was scared. Mummy told me if I ever got lost to just stay where I was and she would find me."

"Well, we found you. You're okay," I said, picking her up and moving out of the little clump of trees. "Saria!"

"Toni!"

Saria hurried over to us and took the girl from my arms, hugging her tightly.

"Oh sweetheart. Thank god you're alright."

"I'm sorry for getting angry mummy."

"It's alright Toni. I shouldn't have gotten angry either. But you're okay now. I found you. I've got you."

...

"That's the second time you've helped her," said Saria.

"Guess that means you owe me twice huh?" I asked. "Kidding. I'm just glad I could be of service."

"You know, you should get that girl a bell and collar," said Angel.

Saria chuckled weakly.

"At this rate I'm going to get her a security detail," she said fervently.

"Well, what a coincidence, Angel's in the private security business," I said.

_You forget one crucial detail._

_Oh?_

_I can't go out when the sun's up._

"Of course, he's basically nocturnal so he'd really only be able to help at night and that's probably not when you need help," I added quickly.

"Uh, no, but thank you for the gesture," said Saria. "Look, I feel truly horrible about what I said to you and how I've treated you."

"Hey, it wasn't exactly one sided and most of it was true. But I am _not_ buying out your shares," I said firmly.

"Oh, I know," said Saria. "I sorted that out. No, what I wanted to say was, I was wrong about you. I somehow got some stupid idea in my head that you were a terrible person when all the evidence points in the opposite direction. So, if you want to see Toni sometimes, I can live with that. She really likes you and I don't want her to get herself into any more trouble because of any fights that I get into with her. I need her to have a friend and you seem to be a likely candidate."

"Well, if you think that would be best, I'm sure I can manage that," I said.

"Thank you," said Saria. "And...thank you."

She turned and hurried away from us, down to her car, where Toni was fast asleep in the back seat.

"How did you manage to get this situation to favor you?" asked Angel.

"I don't know," I said honestly, closing the door and turning to face him, running a hand down his chest. "I guess I'm just even more talented than I thought I was."

Angel rolled his eyes, taking my hand and pulling me into the living room.

"If you were even more talented than you thought you were, talent would be spewing from you all the time. There would not be a single thing in this world that you wouldn't be talented at. Clearly, you're not more talented than you thought," he stated.

"You're not helping your case," I said, pushing him down onto the couch.

"I figured if you were going to be angry at me, you'd be angry about what I said in the park, not what I say now," he said, biting his lip. "And I'm sorry about that."

"Oh right, that whole 'I could never take care of a kid thing'," I said. "I'd completely forgotten about that. Thank you for bringing it back up."

Angel swallowed.

"But you know, you were right," I said. "I couldn't take care of a kid. I hate kids. Which is why I'm with you, and not Connor, because there's a far less likely chance of getting pregnant with you than with your freakazoid son. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to stop talking about kids and start kissing you before I get completely turned off."

Angel grinned as I climbed onto his lap.

"Fine by me."

...

"You're really going to throw such a fine scotch away?" I asked, examining the bottle.

"You can have it if you want," said Connor.

"Ooh, yay," I said, grinning and slipping the bottle into my bag. "So, found out that only I can pull off the 'drunk all the time' act?"

"How do you stand the hang overs?" Connor asked.

"Aspirin and more booze," I said simply. "Listen Connor-"

"Don't say a word," said Connor firmly as he picked up large piles of clothes and shoved them into his closet. "Drunk talk Mirany. Just...leave it at that, alright?"

I sighed.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "Because trust me, I've been there before and-"

"Drunk. Talk. Mirany," said Connor slowly and clearly.

"Fine," I said. "In that case, the next time you tell someone that I've killed people, whether they believe you or not, I'm going to kill _you_. Comprende?"

"Comprende," said Connor quickly. "Sorry."

"Yeah, sure you are," I said, getting to my feet. "Oh, if you find any more booze stashes, I'd be happy to take them off your hands."

"Look at you. Little rich girl cheap-skating it," said Connor disapprovingly. "The rich community ought to kick you out."

"They already have. I hang with people far below my pay grade," I said pointedly, leaving the room.

...

_Hey Lilah,_

_Guess what? There is one person in the world who doesn't think I'm a complete waste of space, and it's the last person you'd expect. Saria Overwood. I guess finding her daughter in a huge national park in the middle of the night might have helped, particularly after I had already saved said daughter's life but...it's nice to know I feel loved, seeing as everyone else is determined to slag on me with everything they've got. Kinda like you did actually._

_Anyway, Toni got into a fight with Saria and ran off. She got lost and Saria asked us to help find her. Being the amazing sleuths we are, Maia and I sniffed her out in the middle of the night and now Saria has given me her official permission to be friends with her daughter, even though the fight had been because she wouldn't let Toni see me. Funny how things turn around huh?_

_Well, I'll let you know if anything exciting happens, like I always do._

_Talk soon,  
Mirany_


	54. The Number 23

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**So, for some strange reason, my readers seem to like Connor. Can't imagine why. It's not as if I've made him out to be in desperate need for someone, but there you go. So, as per your requests, this is a 'Connor loving' chapter. I hope this is, to a point, what you wanted.**

* * *

**_"Control your own destiny, or someone else will." - Jack Welsh_**

* * *

"What are they fighting about?" I asked frustratedly.

"Give them a minute," said Wesley. "You'll hear it soon."

"I don't want to hear it!" I snapped. "I just want it to be done so that I can stop being angry!"

I kicked the couch to prove my point and winced slightly when I put a hole through the fabric in the back.

"Okay, you need to breathe. You came in here happy," said Wesley, pushing me down onto the couch. "Angel's mood is affecting you."

"Ya think?" I asked pointedly.

"YOU DON'T JUST DROP OUT OF THE BUSINESS!" Angel yelled.

"WHY NOT?" Connor yelled.

"BECAUSE YOU WERE BORN FOR THIS!"

"What's that about?" I asked.

"Connor wants out," said Wesley. "Been wanting it for weeks. He wants to go and experience real life. I mean, he doesn't want out out. He's happy to go on a hunt every now and then but he wants his life to be more than hunting and Dan's bar."

"So he wants a job?" I asked.

"He wants a life," said Cordelia, putting down her magazine. "This is like the ten millionth fight they've had about it."

I growled impatiently, jigging on the spot.

"How long are they going to take?" I asked.

"Dunno. They only just got to proper yelling now. Could be a while," said Cordelia. "I think Connor's seriously considering moving out after his birthday."

"His birthday? When's his birthday?" I asked.

Cordelia and Wesley stared at me.

"You were engaged to the man but you don't know when his birthday is?" asked Cordelia.

"Hey, you're not allowed to talk, you don't even remember the _names_ of guys you date," I said indignantly. "And I have been told so I do know it, I just...forgot."

"It's this Wednesday," said Wesley.

"That's like...five days away! What the hell am I going to get him? I could get him a car!"

"Angel covered that," said Cordelia.

"Oh. I could get him a girlfriend."

"_I've_ covered that," said Cordelia. "Well, hopefully. I got him a date."

"Alright, what are you getting him so that I don't think of it?" I asked Wesley.

"A book," said Wesley and Cordelia at the same time.

"He gets everyone a book," said Cordelia. "Although in saying that, he moved up to magazines for me."

"What sorts of books does Connor read?" I asked.

"Ones about swords," said Wesley simply.

"Ah. Well, what should I do?"

"Something befitting the name of Hunter," said Cordelia.

"Again, I land on car," I muttered.

"Well, why don't you chip in with Angel?" asked Wesley.

"NO!" Cordelia and I all but shrieked.

"If she and Angel give Connor a gift together it's couple gift," Cordelia explained. "Connor doesn't like that they're a couple and giving him a gift together would just be rubbing his nose in it. No, it has to be a separate gift."

"I could still get him a car, just a better one," I said.

"No. Angel stole your credit card, he's got it covered," said Cordelia.

"He stole my- Why do people keep doing that?" I asked frustratedly.

"Because you have fifteen of them and none of them have a limit," said Cordelia pointedly.

"Alright, that makes sense. But back to my original issue-"

"Why don't you just ask him what he wants?" asked Wesley.

"Yeah, I can see _that_ conversation going down well," said Cordelia sarcastically. "'Hey Connor, I know we were engaged and everything but I only just found out that it's your birthday this Wednesday and I haven't got you anything because I'm a bitch and don't remember anything important about anyone but myself, so what do you want?' Probably not the best thing to say."

"Would it be inappropriate if I got him a VIP ticket into the Playboy Mansion?" I asked.

"Yes," said Wesley.

"And besides, by the end of next week, he's going to have a girlfriend," said Cordelia confidently.

"Who is this girl you wish to set him up with?" I asked.

"My friend's, friend's cousin got into town a few months ago. She's about Connor's age, looking for a nice guy. I said I might know such a guy."

"I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT I'M OBLIGATED TO SPEND THE REST OF MY LIFE HUNTING SIMPLY BECAUSE I'M STRONG!"

"WELL IF YOU CONTINUE LIKE THIS, WE WON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THAT!"

"Did he just threaten Connor?" I asked.

"They both threaten each other. It hasn't equated to anything...yet," said Wesley.

"Alright, I really need ideas here guys," I said, "before I storm in there and strangle them both. Least then I won't have to worry about this damn birthday. Why didn't anybody tell me sooner?"

"Well, we'd hoped you'd have gained enough people skills to remember when your ex-fiancee's birthday is, especially since you're now best friends," said Wesley. "Sorry we over-estimated you."

"You should be! Now I have think of a present!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT? I'M SICK OF THIS! I'M AN ADULT AND I CAN MAKE MY OWN DECISIONS! I'M GETTING OUT, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!"

Connor stormed out of Angel's office, slamming the door so hard behind him I heard the wood splinter.

"I think they're done," said Cordelia.

I got to my feet and barged into Angel's office. Angel wasn't about to calm down any time soon, and as long as he was angry, I was going to be a little angry.

"Oh man. Mirany, I'm sorry, I should have warned you. You weren't with Toni, were you?"

"No," I said, "but I was right outside the door. Did you really just threaten your own son?"

Angel avoided my eye.

"Angel!"

"Look, we've been fighting for a few weeks now," he said. "Connor wants to get out of hunting and I don't believe it's a good idea. We've both threatened and abused the hell out of each other. It's nothing to worry about."

He was calming down a lot quicker than I had expected, though to be fair, I had been expecting him to be like me after getting angry, and I really wasn't someone to compare to in normal circumstances.

"Why haven't I felt you so angry before?" I asked.

"Because most of the time we're fighting when you're 'doing work', or we're fighting when you're asleep," said Angel. "When you're doing work, you get angry anyway and when you're asleep...well, you don't get angry when you're asleep."

"I'll accept that. Hey, guess what I just found out? It's Connor's birthday next week!"

Angel gave me an exasperated look as he moved around his desk to take my hand.

"I know. I was there," he said pointedly, pulling me into a seat. "And I thought you'd remember seeing as you're best buds and before that you were going to get married."

"Why does everyone keep bringing that up? Just because I'm his ex and his friend doesn't mean I should know when his birthday is," I said.

"Of course not. How silly of us," said Angel, smirking.

I scowled at him.

"So I heard you were already covering his own car," I said, "something I really hate you for just by the way, and Cordelia's getting him a girlfriend, so I can't even do that. What am I supposed to do?"

"Something befitting the name of Hunter," said Angel.

"Cordelia said exactly the same thing," I said. "And once again I think car."

"I've covered that," he said, still smirking.

"I know, with my credit card none the less," I said, scowling. "Which technically makes it my present but anyway, what am _I_ supposed to do?"

"Well, you could kill him. Do the rest of us a favour," Angel muttered.

"I could kill _you_. Do_ him_ a favour."

"Dare you to try," said Angel, grinning. "I don't know what to tell you Mirany. I'm sure you'll think of something. It's not as if you don't know what he likes, right?"

"I know one thing he likes, but Cordelia says I'm not allowed to get him a whore," I muttered.

Angel chuckled.

"Mirany, why don't you just ask him?"

I stared at him.

"You and Wesley need to get out more," I stated. "You don't just ask your ex-fiancee and current best friend what he wants for his birthday. You're sort of supposed to know."

"You didn't even know when his birthday was," Angel pointed out, coming round behind me and massaging into my shoulders.

"Okay, I admit, not helping my case," I said. "But still!"

"I'm sure you'll think of something," said Angel, trailing kisses down my neck and shoulder blade.

"You're rather...promiscuous tonight," I commented.

"Must be the vampire in me," Angel said. "And why don't you just say horny?"

"Because I have class," I said simply.

Angel added his tongue to the mix and I paused.

"But not much, let's go," I said quickly, taking his hand and pulling him from the office and up the stairs.

"You could be a little more subtle!" Cordelia called after us. "You know, classy!"

...

"I just want a normal life outside of...this," said Connor, gesturing at the graveyard distastefully. "You know, college, some mates...something to look forward to when the hunting gets me down. I mean, I'll still hunt. Of course I'll still hunt. Angel's right, it's sort of what I was born for, but surely there's got to be something outside of that, right?"

"I hear ya," I said fervently.

"I mean, I'm allowed that right?"

"Of course you are," I said.

"Wish dad thought that," Connor muttered.

"Connor, Angel's going to kill me for saying this but...it's your life, not his. And it's your decision. If you want something else out of your life, well, go and get it. Don't let Angel boss you around. You're an adult now. You don't have to listen to him."

"Even if I did do that, I still wouldn't get very far," Connor muttered. "It's not like colleges just take any random walk in from the street. I haven't been to school, or done an apprenticeship or anything, and I have nothing on my resume, if I even had one of those, that says that I've done something useful with my life up until now. 'Fighting the forces of darkness' doesn't really cut in on college applications. I mean, I'm smart enough, I know I'm smart enough, I just have nothing to give them otherwise and no real proof that I am smart enough."

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," I said. "Just out of curiosity, what would you do at college?"

"Psychology maybe. Or journalism. Something that might be of benefit to Angel. You know. Psych to figure out clients or people he's investigating. Journalism to get the 'inside scoop' on something weird and wonderful."

"Journalism huh?" I asked, smiling slightly.

"Yeah. This amuses you because...?"

"Oh, no reason," I said quickly. "So, birthday in a few days. Have you met the broad Cordelia's setting you up with yet?"

"Tomorrow night," said Connor. "And I'm pretty sure they call them 'women' nowadays."

"Whatever," I muttered, waving the comment aside. "So, you're letting Cordelia set you up on a blind date with someone you've never met?"

"I'm pretty sure that's the definition of a blind date," said Connor.

"Again, whatever," I said pointedly. "Anyway, aren't you a little nervous as to what she's going to be like?"

"Of course I am," said Connor. "This is Cordelia we're talking about."

"Although, in saying that, I realize now that the last broad you dated was a complete bimbo and slut so maybe you'll be fine," I said.

Connor scowled at me.

"For the last time-"

"She wasn't a bimbo and slut, I know, I know, _whatever_," I said once again. "So what are you going to wear?"

"Well, I just thought I'd pick something out of the closet."

"Excuse me? You don't own a single shirt that doesn't have a stain from some demon's blood or a hole from some sort of weapon," I pointed out. "You haven't gone shopping?"

"Uh, no," said Connor. "And I'm sure I could find _one_ shirt that hasn't been ruined by hunting."

"Connor, if you dare wear that patchwork shirt, I will kill you," I said simply. "Alright. Tomorrow. You and I. The mall. We're not leaving until you have a whole new wardrobe. And then when we get back to the hotel, I'm raiding your closet and burning anything that you couldn't pass off in public."

"But-"

"Connor, I don't want to hear it. You need clothes. I am providing you with them. End of story."

Connor huffed but didn't complain.

...

"You said WHAT?! Mirany, I'm going to kill you!"

"Yeah, that might be a little difficult, don't you think?" I asked pointedly, waving my Warrior's mark in his face. "And besides, you know as well as I do that I'm right. It's not your decision. Anyway, Connor will be bored of college in three seconds. Those places are just party after party and let's face it, Connor can't stand parties."

"Mirany-"

"No! There is no reason for you to deny him this. All Connor wants is to see what having a life would be like. He'll still hunt and patrol and do stuff with you, he just also wants to have some fun."

"We have fun."

"_Real live_ fun," I said pointedly. "Not 'hey, I killed four vamps, how many did you kill' type fun."

"Why would anyone want that?" asked Angel.

"Well, some people think that it's probably a more constructive type of fun," I said. "You know, less emotionally and physically scarring."

Angel rolled his eyes.

"Constructive fun. He's fine! He has plenty of fun! He can't just quit the business with the excuse that he doesn't have fun!"

"Why are you fighting this so much?" I asked. "I would have thought you'd be happy that he was making his own decisions. Isn't that why you raise a kid? So that they can grow up enough to make their own way in life?"

"I'm fighting this because he has no idea what he's talking about," said Angel. "If he goes off to college, which, I might add, he'll never be able to get into anyway, he puts everyone at that college at risk. He's a demon magnet. That's not his fault, anyone with powers is, but because of his power, demons are drawn towards his location. He'd be putting a whole heap of people at risk."

"What about me? If I were to say that I wanted to go to college, would you be arguing with me?"

"I would if you said that you were going to quit the business!"

"He's not quitting! He's still happy to patrol as long as he has a different life to fall back on!"

Angel scowled.

"I'm not condoning it," he said simply. "I don't care what you say Mirany. This is between me and Connor and if you ask me, you had no right to put butt in."

"God you're an idiot," I muttered. "You honestly think that Connor's going to listen to you much longer? With or without me? He's sick of it Angel, and nothing you say to him any more is going to change the fact that he's done."

"He's _not_ done," said Angel dangerously.

"You know what? I think you're jealous," I stated. "Connor's determined to live the life that you never could, and you're being a bitter old hag about it because...well...you're bitter. Connor's taking control of his life the way you wanted to take control of yours. And you tried. But you took two steps out the door and suddenly you were a vampire. Now you don't want to give Connor the chance to try because you never got it."

Angel stared at me. I could feel his resolve fading, but I also knew he wasn't going to give this one up without a fight.

"I am _not_ jealous," he said firmly._  
_

"Yes, you are. I'm in your head Angel, I know these things," I said just as firmly. "Look, I don't want you and Connor to never talk again because of this because it will destroy you both. So just...let him have this one. It can't hurt. And besides, don't you want your son to be happy?"

Okay, that was a little low. Connor would probably be happy even if Angel didn't let him do it...eventually. But Angel's reaction was almost childish, and I wasn't going to let him stop Connor from doing something that he wanted to do. Angel sighed, and I knew I'd won.

"Yeah," he muttered. "I do."

"Angel, he's not leaving you, or the job," I said quietly, taking his hand. "He's just figured out that now he's grown up, he'd like to start doing some of the things you're supposed to do when you grow up."

Angel nodded and kissed my knuckles.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I overreacted. I didn't mean to yell at you. There's just one more thing."

"Oh?"

"How is he going to _get into_ college?"

I shrugged.

"Connor's smart. He'll figure something out."

Angel eyed me shrewdly.

"You fight like that for me to just condone his going and then you just shrug at the most crucial detail? No," he said. "What's going on Mirany?"

"Nothing," I said sincerely. "But I know that if Connor really sets his mind to it, he'll be able to get in. I mean, I'm sure he's already put in applications for everything. There's no reason why he shouldn't get in...you know, other than the fact that he has no school record to base his intelligence off, but I'm sure that won't matter once he puts his mind to it. His mind rarely fails him."

Angel didn't look convinced, but he didn't press further.

...

"Sorry I'm late," I said, sliding into the booth beside Connor. "Traffic was a nightmare. I hate it when it rains."

"Better late than never I suppose," muttered Cordelia, who was sitting on the other side of Connor. Angel and Wesley were across from us.

"So, how was it?" I asked Connor, jabbing him lightly with my elbow. "You get any?"

"This is why you should never, ever, ever tell Mirany you're going on a date," muttered Cordelia. "Do you have no shame?"

"Nope," I said simply. "And I was talking to Connor."

"It was fine," said Connor, shrugging. "And no, I didn't _get any_. We just talked and had a nice dinner."

Cordelia and I winced.

"What?" asked Connor.

"Gay?" I asked Cordelia over his shoulder.

"It's a possibility," said Cordelia, surveying Connor. "Never _really_ shown any signs either way."

_Are we talking about Connor or the girl?_

_Angel, if we were talking about the girl, we'd be including you guys in the conversation._

Angel snorted slightly and busied himself with his drink before Connor could question him.

"She didn't come off as gay to me," Connor said.

"Sometimes it can be difficult to spot," I said, smirking as Cordelia nodded an affirmation at me and Angel tried his best not to laugh.

"Well, even if it doesn't work out, you were brave to go, what with Cordelia's choice in women," said Wesley, glaring slightly at Cordelia.

_There's a story behind this, isn't there?_

_Cordelia set Wesley up on a date with a hooker._

It was my turn to fight back laughter.

"Well, anyway," I said after composing myself, "happy birthday. So, what sort of car you got?"

"Aston Martin," said Connor, smirking. "A _nice_ Aston Martin. James Bond model."

I scowled at Angel.

_How much did that cost me?_

Angel smirked.

_You know perfectly well that I'm not going to tell you for fear of my life._

"I wondered why that car was so exciting, besides the usual reasons of 'I have my own car now'," said Wesley.

"You've never seen a James Bond movie?" I asked him.

"Uh...I'm more of a book person really," said Wesley, sounding slightly abashed.

"Oh, of course. You're more of an intellect than a movie buff," I said. "Well, I know this will come as a surprise to you because I think it's the only time when I've given a birthday present that wasn't in the form of cash, but I have a present for you."

"Mirany, I really don't need a hooker," said Connor.

"Saw that one coming," I muttered as the others snorted. "It's not a hooker."

I pulled the envelope out of my bag and handed it to him.

"Happy birthday," I said again as Connor opened it.

"Is it a voucher for a hooker?" asked Cordelia.

"Why would I get him a voucher to go and see one of your friends when you can get him a discount?" I shot back.

Wesley laughed appreciatively at that and Angel smirked.

_She's going to kill you one day._

_Hey, I'll probably deserve it._

Connor's eyes grew wide as he read through the letter and he stared at me.

"Really?" he asked.

"I figured if there was one thing I could do for you to make up for everything you've done and suffered from because of me, this was it," I said.

"Mirany...I...this is..."

Cordelia, tired of waiting for Connor to announce what it was, snatched the letter from him and read it out.

"'To Mr Connor. We are pleased to inform you that your application into Stanford California's Journalism undergraduate degree has been accepted'...You got him into Stanford?!"

"How did you do that?" asked Wesley.

"I know people," I said simply.

_I knew you were planning something._

_Hey, you allowed it. Technically._

_I allowed it because I didn't think he'd be able to get in._

_Not my fault you underestimated my reach._

"Mirany, I can't believe you did this. I...this is amazing," said Connor. "Thank you."

"Hey," I said, shrugging. "You're my best friend. I figured I should give you a present symbolic of that. Oh, and I guaranteed that you'd have a good GPA, so if you don't, and you make me look bad, I _will_ murder you."

"Well then _mum_, I'll try to make you proud," said Connor, smirking.

"Good," I said. "I still can't believe my little boy is going to college. Look how big you've grown."

Connor whacked me over the head before hugging me to him.

"Really, thank you," he said quietly.

I pecked his cheek.

"You deserve it," I said.

...

"You are now officially Connor's favourite person," said Angel.

"I was always Connor's favourite person," I pointed out. "But I'm glad everyone knows it."

"So how did you do it?" asked Angel.

"I gave them a large amount of money and told them that they were going to accept my boy Connor or I'd use ten times the amount of money I gave them to destroy them," I said simply.

"You're a very cruel business woman," Angel commented, wrapping his arms around my waist.

I smirked.

"And you're the schmuck who reckons he can take it," I commented.

"Schmuck? I resent that," said Angel.

I shrugged.

"Then let go of me and go home," I said simply.

"On second thought, I think it's quite an endearing term," said Angel, kissing me.

...

_Lilah,_

_So Connor's going to Stanford. Angel's not particularly happy about it, but as long as Connor keeps patrolling, he's willing to let it happen. Don't know for how long though. He still doesn't seem to be too keen on the idea. Still, Connor's happy. He gets to go to college, have a life, do all those things a normal person might do, even if he's doing it a little late. And he doesn't know it yet, but Cordy and I are almost certain he's gay. Funny how almost everyone around you knows these sorts of things before you do. Oh well, for once, I don't have anything bad to report, which probably means it's been the best week of my life, all things considered._

_Talk soon,  
__Mirany_


	55. Sickness

**_"Sickness is mankind's greatest defect." - Georg C. Lichtenberg_**

* * *

"I'm _not_ gay!"

"I'm sure you don't think so," said Mirany, the smirk evident even in her voice.

I glanced up at the two of them as they came down the stairs. Connor was scowling and Mirany was, as predicted, smirking.

"Why are you so adamant about this? It's not as if it's a bad thing," said Mirany.

"I'm adamant because you're _wrong_."

"Connor, acceptance is the first step towards happiness."

"Oh piss off."

Mirany grinned at me as they parted at the bottom of the stairs, coming over to me.

"I think I'm getting there," she said happily.

"Yeah, looks like he's really ready to come out," I said sarcastically.

"Well, at least I'm trying," Mirany sighed, sitting down and curling up beside me.

"Are you alright? I've been shaky all day but I know there's nothing wrong with me."

"I think I'm coming down with something," Mirany groaned, cuddling closer to me. "I've got a temperature and everything. You really feel sick as well?"

"Yeah. You should lie down. Get some sleep."

"I'm fine," said Mirany, waving it aside. "It's just a cold or something. I probably caught it from Toni but I'm fine. If she was fine and she's like, seven, surely I'll be fine."

I frowned slightly.

"It doesn't quite work that way Mirany."

"It does if I say it does," Mirany muttered. "Come on. Let's go patrolling. Blow off some steam."

"When you faint and die-"

"You will not be held responsible, now let's go!"

I sighed and allowed her to pull me to my feet and out of the hotel.

...

"This is all your fault," Mirany groaned.

"I did warn you."

"But it's not possible! Some little seven-year-old snot-bag has a bit of a sniffle and suddenly I have every disease on the face of the earth? No. This will not stand!"

"Neither will you if you don't calm down," I pointed out.

Mirany huffed slightly and rolled over, burying her face in pillows. She was sweating bullets and could barely muster the energy to sit up, let alone stand. In her state, her eyes had yellowed and she'd developed claws and fang as her control slipped away.

"Being sick sucks," Mirany grunted into the pillow.

Maia jumped up onto the bed beside her and nuzzled under her arm.

"At least _someone_ cares," said Mirany, removing her face from the pillow to glare pointedly at me.

"Mirany, I told you perfectly clearly that patrolling wouldn't help your condition. I told you to get some rest instead of try to take on five vampires at a time. I'm sorry if it appears that I don't care but I did warn you. You chose to do the stupid thing. Hardly my fault. And let me inform you that this isn't exactly a walk in the park for me either. I'm not sick but I'm certainly feeling some of the affects of whatever ti is that you've come down with. So for once in your life, do the right thing and just lie there. Luckily for you, you have a million people around you all the time so you have the facilities to do that."

"But I'll get so _bored_," Mirany complained.

"Go to sleep then," I said simply, getting to my feet.

"Wait."

Mirany caught my arm, holding on feebly.

"I need to drink," she said quietly.

I sighed and laid down beside her.

"We're going to need a better system," I told her as she ran a sharp claw down the length of my neck. "You're too unpredictable."

"I'm sick! I'm allowed to be more needy," Mirany objected, running her tongue along the cut before latching onto my neck and beginning to drink my blood.

Maia growled and got to her feet, climbing onto the pillows to try and paw Mirany's face away from me, whilst growling a very clear warning in my face. I knew what she was thinking. I was basically poisoning Mirany, and even the dog knew it. Mirany tried to wave her away with one hand while her other hand gripped at my hair, pulling me closer. The dog didn't budge, and continued to growl right until Mirany released me, eyes losing some of their yellow state for a short moment, a glazed, calm look on her face. Maia whimpered slightly and nuzzled against Mirany's face, giving me a warning look, if that were at all possible for a dog. I ruffled her fur and got to my feet.

"Maia's right Mirany. I'm no good for you," I said as I left the room.

...

"Where's Miss I'm-The-Centre-Of-The-Universe?" asked Connor.

"At home, sick as a dog," I said. "Speaking of, her dog wasn't very happy with her drinking from me. She tried to make Mirany stop and she kept snarling at me. It was weird."

"So Maia actually tried to stop you?" asked Connor.

"She was going to rip my face off," I confirmed fervently. "I think Mirany's the only person in the world who doesn't see that blood drinking isn't the usual practice for humans. Particularly if it's vampire blood that you're taking in by the quart."

Connor seemed to be chewing his tongue. I knew this was a touchy subject with him. It had been one of his main campaigns when he was trying to get Mirany to take him back. And that was exactly why I was talking to him and not to Cordelia or Wesley. He'd thought about this, for a long time, and he was slightly more removed from the situation than I was to see what was happening to Mirany in the long term. And he would see everything. That was Connor. If it involved Mirany's well-being, Connor would know about it. He was exactly the person I needed to talk to about this. Just my luck to have that person living under my roof.

"I don't actually believe it's the blood drinking that a dog would be opposed to," he said. "I mean, you've done it around Maia plenty of times before, right?"

"Well, yeah," I said.

"So that's not the problem. Maybe the problem is more to do with what's been happening. Because clearly, something's changed."

"Well, the only different thing about this time was that Mirany was sick," I said. "What, you think maybe Maia sensed Mirany was...weaker?"

"It's a possibility, but again, don't think so. When Mirany needs blood, she gets weak. I'm thinking it is something to do with the sickness, but not that she's weaker. How'd she get sick?"

"She reckons she caught it from Toni," I said. "Said she had a sniffle or something. Must have just blown up into bigger proportions for Mirany."

Connor considered me.

"What was our theory about Toni again?" he asked.

"She has Mirany's pre-Slayer soul," I said. "Haven't found a way to test that yet, Wesley's still working on it, but I'm pretty certain it's correct."

"Maybe it's something to do with Toni," Connor suggested.

"Like what?" I asked pointedly. "The only connection is that they have the same bug."

"Why don't I have it then?" asked Connor. "Why don't Cordy and Wesley? We've all been in contact with Mirany while she was still a carrier. What if this bug's a little more focused?"

"On Mirany?"

"No. Toni."

I closed my eyes, massaging my temples.

"I don't understand."

"Okay, say someone wants Toni to get sick, for some reason or another, doesn't really matter at this point. Toni and Mirany are connected, somehow, probably through their souls. Mirany get's Toni's illness because of this."

"How does that relate to Maia wanting to rip my head off?"

Connor paused, thinking.

"Alright," he said eventually. "Because the sickness was aimed for Toni, we can assume that however it was brought about, they needed something of Toni's, like a hair or some sort of DNA. Mirany gets the bug, she carries a bit of Toni with her. Maia senses the innocence, that _pure_ weakness, and gets protective."

"As strange as that sounds because I can't think of a person on this planet that would want to harm Ton in any way, shape or form, that actually makes sense and is kinda smart," I said.

"Well, I do go to Stanford," said Connor, smirking.

I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, so assuming that this illness, for whatever reason, is supernatural of some kind, how do we fix it, because I gotta tell you, I haven't been sick in two-hundred years, and I don't enjoy this feeling," I said fervently.

Connor considered me.

"Go to the source," he said. "Toni."

...

"Toni! Some of Mirany's friends are here to see you! Where's the bitch?" asked Saria.

"Under the weather," I said. "She's got a bug. We just wanted to have a quick word with Toni. We want to surprise Mirany with something and thought we might be able to use her help."

"She's _seven_."

"Exactly. She has imagination. We are imaginationed out," said Connor fervently.

"Who are you again?" asked Saria.

"My brother. Sorry, he's an idiot," I said.

"Angel!"

Toni ran down the stairs and I scooped her up, swinging her around before placing her back on the ground, giggling.

"Hey Toni," I said. "This is Connor. We just wanted to have a little talk with you."

"Where's Mirany?"

"She's not feeling very well," I said.

"Toni, why don't you take Angel and Connor into the living room and I'll be there in a few minutes?" asked Saria, already losing interest and fiddling with her phone.

"Okay!"

Toni took my hand and I trailed after her into the living room. It was just as marble white as the rest of the mansion, and filled with red and gold couches and waxed red oak coffee tables. The entire Overwood mansion reminded me far too much of a medical ward. A really big, comfortable medical ward, but a medical ward all the same. It was all too white and pristine. Everything was completely spotless all the time, and it just didn't feel truly lived in. Except Toni's room. Toni's room was one big splash of pink and purple and white and couldn't have contrasted more with the rest of the mansion. It was always messy and just had that air of fun to it. But step outside her room and suddenly you feel like you need to completely decontaminate your entire body and walk on tiptoe and not say a word. It was one of those big empty mansions that wasn't empty.

"Mirany said you had been feeling a bit sick as well," I said.

"I have a cold," said Toni, pouting slightly. "Mummy says I can't go outside and play until I'm better."

"That's too bad," said Connor. "Before you were sick, did you play with anyone special?"

"Umm...Mirany...and...Tommy...and...Mitch!" said Toni. "Do you wanna play a game?"

"Sure," I said. "Who's Mitch?"

"Mitch is funny," said Toni, handing me an armful of bears and other colourful stuffed animals. "He makes funny voices."

"I see," I said, raising an eyebrow at Connor. "He sounds funny."

Connor shrugged slightly, looking completely lost. Toni was looking at me expectantly.

"You're supposed to be playing," she said accusingly.

"Oh, sorry. What are we playing?" I asked.

As Toni began to talk me through the instructions of her game, Saria came back in.

"Sorry. Have you said what you needed to say? Only Toni's a little sick as well and I don't need her to be too excited. She doesn't seem to be getting any better."

"Oh, I think we're done," said Connor. "Just, one thing. She keeps talking about a 'Mitch'. I think I've heard Mirany talk about him. Who is he?"

"Mitchell? He's a business partner. He does some small trade with me. It doesn't surprise me that he trades with Mirany too. He's not really one to take sides."

"Sides?" I asked, looking up from Toni's toys.

"Don't you know? We're each other's number one competitors," said Saria.

"In life and in business," I muttered.

"Nobody said we had to be civil," said Saria coolly. "Look, Toni really does just need some quiet time so I think you should leave."

"Oh, of course," I said quickly, abandoning the toys at once and ruffling the girl's hair. "See you later Toni. Get better."

"Mitch," Connor muttered in my ear.

"Yeah, I'm on it."

...

"Where's Queen Yellsalot?" asked Jason as one of Mirany's staff keyed me into the lab.

"Sick," I said. I was noticing a pattern in Mirany's friends. None of them seemed to know her name. "I was wondering if you could help her."

"I'm a scientist, not a doctor," said Jason.

"I understand," I said quickly. "I don't need you to prescribe her anything, but it would be nice to know what it is that she has."

"I'll need blood."

I held up a vial.

"Of course you have that already," Jason muttered. "You're really quite disturbing, you know that son?"

"It has come up in conversation before, yeah," I said, ignoring his 'son'. To him I did look young enough. He had to be nearing his late forties. I was stuck on 21. "I don't deny it. I know I'm strange."

"Yeah, I said disturbing, not strange," said Jason, taking the vial from me. "Give me your number and I'll see what I can do."

...

"Hey."

Mirany was fast asleep, her head resting on Maia's belly. The dog in question was lying curled around Mirany, glaring silently at me. I scratched her ears as I shook Mirany gently awake. Maia noted my touching Mirany with a short growl, but then contented herself in rubbing up into my hand. Mirany groaned as she woke up and took a few moments to focus on me. She was still wolfy, and was in an even worse condition than she had been. I could feel the beginnings of a headache, and I knew that if I could feel it, Mirany's headache had to be seriously bad. I was more shaky than before, so it didn't surprise me that when Mirany tried to sit up, she failed miserably and collapsed back down onto her dog, who licked at her face gently.

"How do you feel?" I asked.

"Like I had fifty vodka shots last night and now I'm being hit by the hangover," Mirany muttered.

"I need to ask you something."

"Better do it soon before the delirium sets in," Mirany groaned. "I truly hate being sick."

"Everybody does," I said. "Do you know a Mitchell at all? Deals in small trade, and, as far as Toni's concerned, is really funny."

"Mitchell Hineman. He trades for me and Saria. He doesn't take sides. Which is unfortunate because he's amazing. He came round the same day I was with Toni. We sort of...ganged up on her a little."

"The same day?"

"Yeah. A week or two ago, before either of us were sick. Why?"

"Just wondering."

"Wait, did you say you talked to Toni?" asked Mirany. "Is she alright?"

"She's doing better than you," I said.

"Of course she is," Mirany yawned sarcastically.

"Go back to sleep hon. I shouldn't have woken you," I said, brushing her forehead.

Maia growled slightly. Mirany whacked her face lightly.

"Stop it Maia. What's gotten into you?"

Maia growled again before placing her head on her paws and settling with glaring at me.

"Keep up the good work," I told the dog as I moved away. "Someone's gotta protect her while I'm away."

...

"I think we need to rethink," I told Connor. "Something's not right. If Toni was the target, why is Mirany so sick while Toni's only a little sick? It doesn't make sense."

"Um...adults react differently?" Connor guessed.

"Not if it's supernatural. It wouldn't work like that. Mirany said that she and this guy were playing with Toni on the same day. Could he have gotten the wrong DNA?"

"It's possible. Taking a hair off someone's clothes doesn't necessarily guarantee that it's their hair," said Connor. "But then, isn't it more likely that the target was Mirany and it's Toni that caught it from her?"

"That doesn't explain Maia's reaction to me."

"Oh right."

"We need to find Mitch," I said. "Simple as that. Doesn't matter who the target was, just who chose the target."

"Mirany?"

"No, don't want to disturb her."

"Saria?"

"Won't talk to us."

"Toni?"

"Gotta talk to Saria."

"You're not helping," said Connor.

"I have his name, maybe we can look him up."

"Well you could've said so," said Connor exasperatedly, turning on the computer.

"Mitchell Hineman," I told him as my phone rang. "Just a sec. Angel."

_"Angel. Jason here."_

"That was fast," I commented.

_"Yeah well, when there's no disease in the blood, it's pretty easy,"_ said Jason pointedly.

"What? Nothing?"

_"Not a thing. Is this some sort of test that Mirany's running. Trying to see whether I'm still up to scratch or something?"_

"No, Jason, go up and see her, she's seriously ill. How can here not be anything in the blood?"

_"Your guess is as good as mine, but might I suggest that it's got something to do with the supernatural? After all, isn't it always supernatural when it involves you lot?"_

"You know about the supernatural?"

_"Angel, I have three doctorates. One of them is pure chemistry, one of them is pure biology, and one of them is demonology. I know my stuff."_

"Then, do you think you could point us in some sort of direction here?"

_"Definitely a spell. If it were demon, there would be some trace of it in the blood. There's nothing in here but your usual wolfed out, human DNA.__"_

"Right. Well, thanks."

Connor looked up at me.

"So?"

"He reckons it's definitely a spell," I said, leaning over him to watch the computer screen. "That him?"

The man on the screen was older, maybe fifty, with salt and pepper hair and a gently aged face. He had startlingly green eyes and looked fairly well off as far as small-traders went.

"I reckon so. We gonna pay him a visit?"

"Absolutely."

...

"Consultation hours are between ten and four every other Tuesday. Come back then."

"We're representatives of Mirany Hunter's," I said to the receptionist.

"They say they're representatives of Mirany Hunter's," said the girl into the intercom.

There was a pause.

_"Send them in."_

"Well if that doesn't prove she's influential, what does?" asked Connor in my ear.

"The fact that she got you into Stanford."

"...That works too," said Connor, opening the door.

Hineman was sitting at a huge mahogany desk, smiling, somewhat sadistically, at us as we entered. He looked less like a trader, more like a lawyer.

"How can I help you?" he asked. "What does Mirany need today?"

"For you to tell us why you cast a spell on Toni Overwood," I said.

The smile slid of his face like quicksand.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

"I have to wonder, what did you think you would gain, making a little kid sick?" I asked. "And in turn, making Mirany sick. Do you know what Mirany will do to you if she finds out that you're the one that cast the spell to make her bed ridden?"

I winced.

"That's not gonna be pretty."

"Oh, remember the time she hung that guy upside down from the flagpole down the road?" asked Connor.

"Oh yeah. And that time she hooked up that guy to the car battery?" I asked.

Connor chuckled.

"That was such a classic."

Hineman was turning very pale.

"Look, I never meant for her to get sick," he said quickly. "It was supposed to be the girl that was bed ridden. I needed Overwood preoccupied for a few days. I thought the spell was just for the girl. I even got her DNA. How did Hunter get sick?"

"Doesn't matter," I said. "What matters now is whether or not you're smart enough to reverse the spell."

"And if you're not smart enough...well..."

Connor rolled up his sleeve to reveal the knife he had holstered at his wrist.

"...you might wish had Mirany had gotten to you instead," he finished.

Hineman stared from him to me, before getting to his feet and pulling a book from his drawer.

"Everything you need is in here," he said shakily.

"No, Mitch, you don't understand," I said. "We want _you_ to reverse it."

"But I didn't ever perform the spell!"

Connor and I stared at him.

"What?" I demanded.

"I was just told to get the ingredients and the spell and he'd do it all for me. He said we'd both benefit. The whole thing wasn't even my idea. It just worked for me as well. It was his idea."

"Who?" asked Connor.

Hineman swallowed.

"Who was it?" I growled, grabbing hold of his collar.

"Andrew Walter."

...

"So now we have to look up this other guy?"

"Well, we need to look up where he lives, but I already know him," I said. "He should fold pretty easily. Nice idea, the flagpole thing."

"Your car battery was better."

"Well...I might have used it before," I said, avoiding his gaze.

"Of course you did," Connor muttered. "Why don't I go there myself? You should go look after Mirany."

"Maia won't let me anywhere near her," I sighed.

"I'll go then. I can stay with her, and you're probably more threatening than I am anyway," said Connor. "Just drop me off."

"Alright. You'll call if anything drastically changes right?"

"Course."

...

**CONNOR**

Mirany was asleep when I entered her bedroom, face buried in Maia's fur, hugging the dog close to her. Maia looked up as I came in and growled for a moment as she tried to figure out if I was friend or foe, before seemingly becoming content and laying back down.

"How is she?" I asked the dog, sitting down on the other side of Mirany's bed.

The dog nuzzled into Mirany's head.

"That bad huh?" I asked.

...

**ANGEL**

"Am I interrupting something?"

Walter looked up, startled, from the candles he was chanting over.

"Tell me Andrew, do you value your life?" I asked._  
_

"I know you."

"Yeah. I'm Mirany Hunter's protector. You pulled quite the scam, didn't you? Bet you didn't realise you'd make the kid sick too. What happened Andrew? Mirany turn down one of your offers? Were you sick of being trodden on by some stupid girl who's only in the business for the cruel amusement of ruining other people's lives?"

"What kid?" Walter growled.

"Toni," I said. "Yeah, you didn't see that coming, did you? See, Mirany and Toni are connected. You do something to one of them, the other gets affected, not as severely, but still affected. When Hineman came to you, you thought he was talking about Mirany as well. You thought, 'hey, I can frame this fool and finally get one over on Hunter at the same time'. Well guess what? I'm not putting up with it. So you better bloody well reverse it, or I'll have to take the more direct approach."

Walter glared at me.

"Andrew, this is one of those situations when you should really move fast if you don't want to be dismembered," I growled.

...

**CONNOR**

"Mmm...Angel?"

I looked over at Mirany as she woke up.

"No. Connor," I said quietly.

"Oh. Hey Connor."

"Hey," I said, smiling slightly. "How do you feel?"

"Bad," Mirany groaned.

Maia shifted slightly to allow me to shuffle closer to Mirany, who laid her head in my lap. She was boiling.

"Oh man Mirany. You're really hot," I said worriedly. "Do you want a drink or something?"

"I'm alright," Mirany sighed. "What are you doing here?"

"I was worried," I said. "I sent Angel off to do the threatening and I stayed here."

"Oh. That's really sweet. And kinda gay."

"I'm not gay."

Mirany chuckled slightly.

"You must be getting tired of taking care of me when I'm sick," she said.

"Hey, you're not dying this time," I said, shrugging. "I figure I can deal."

"What? Not as needy?" Mirany asked.

"Don't care as much," I said, smirking.

"Of course not," Mirany muttered, scowling.

"Aww, you're alright. The only reason you're so dramatic is because your dog's encouraging you," I said.

"I'm sick, I'm allowed to be dramatic."

"Yeah well- Hey, you're not hot any more."

Mirany blinked and shook her head.

"My headache's gone. I'm not shaky."

I grinned.

"He fixed it. Angel got him to reverse the spell."

"Who put this spell on me?" Mirany growled.

"Is it really a good idea to tell you that?" I asked. "Aren't you kinda likely to kill him?"

Mirany considered me.

"You're probably right," she said, biting her lip. "But tell me anyway."

...

**ANGEL**

"Where's Mirany?"

"Cutting off Andrew's testicles," said Connor, shrugging. "I thought it was probably one of those things she could alone."

I smirked.

"So?" asked Connor. "What was it?"

"He didn't like Mirany. Plain and simple. Just wanted to...make her remember that she was human too. Little ironic."

"Yeah, since she's actually not," Connor muttered. "But that doesn't explain Maia. If he was really after Mirany, why did Maia do that?"

"Maybe because of the spell," I suggested. "She sensed it. That same sort of weakness you were talking about but not because of Toni, just because of this spell. It made her weak and Maia didn't like it."

"Plausible," said Connor. "That would explain why she hung around even when you were gone."

Connor scrutinized me.

"You don't think so?" he asked.

"I think to a point, that's what it was," I said. "But I think there's something else too. I just don't know what. Maybe because they're getting closer, their souls are starting to meld or something? I'm sure there's something of Toni in Mirany now. Something that was brought forwards because of the spell, so Maia got a hold of it."

"How do you plan on figuring out what it is?" asked Connor.

I sighed.

"Wait," I said, "till it becomes so pronounced that everyone else can see it as well."

"That could end kinda bad," said Connor.

"Yeah, well, I don't have any other choice. There's nothing I can do about it until I know what it is and I'm not going to tie her up and dissect her to try to find out what."

"Good call."

...

"So. You and I need to have a talk."

I looked down at Mirany, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, stroking Maia.

"What did I do?" I asked.

Mirany raised an eyebrow at me as she rubbed Maia's cheeks.

"Not you," she said.

"Oh. So you and your dog are going to have a talk?" I asked.

"Yes," said Mirany simply.

"Okay then," I muttered. "Well, don't let me keep you two."

"You need to apologise to Angel," Mirany told the dog, touching noses with her. "You haven't been treating him very nicely at all."

Maia made some sort of groaning noise in her throat, most likely an objection to her face being squashed.

"We don't growl at people who has done nothing wrong," Mirany said seriously. "Angel was trying to help."

"Mirany, really, I don't need your dog to apologise to me," I said, smirking.

"Nonsense, of course you do," said Mirany simply, patting Maia's side.

Maia slunk up to me and nuzzled my leg.

"Look at that. I did not expect that to work," said Mirany. "Good girl."

"She's crazy, isn't she?" I asked the dog. "Talking to a dog."

Mirany grinned and climbed up onto the couch beside me, lying down with her head in my lap.

"Can I ask you something?"

"No," said Mirany simply.

I smiled slightly.

"You don't want to hear it?"

"When people precede a question by saying that they need to ask a question, it's going to be big and a difficult decision to make, so I don't want to hear it."

"You don't think that sometimes you have to make difficult decisions?" I asked.

"I have. Most recently I had a choice between staying with you or not," said Mirany. "I don't need any more. So if I can avoid them, I do."

"Humor me," I said.

Mirany sighed.

"The moment you open your mouth, I'm going to have to make some sort of choice. Can't we just stick with post-'adventure' happiness?"

"No."

Mirany scowled.

"Fine," she said curtly. "What is it?"

"Do you ever think about getting married, settling down, having kids?" I asked. "Just...leaving this whole thing behind?"

Mirany ran a hand over her face and through her hair.

"Angel, please don't go there," she whispered. "Please."

"Why not?"

"Because that was exactly what I gave up, choosing you," said Mirany, turning onto her side to avoid looking at me.

...

**MIRANY**

He went there. Of course he went there. Two hundred plus years, eventually you had to start thinking about retiring from a life of fighting evil. And of course it was now. We'd both been spending time with Toni, he'd just spent the past few days looking after me. Connor was going off to college, was finding a way to get out of just hunting all the time. Angel was in 'father' mode. Until Toni, I hadn't even considered kids, maybe a normal life. But Toni and that one day in the life of 'normal Mirany' had made me a little...more inclined towards the idea. But I had given it up. I had chosen Angel over that life.

I felt Angel's hand ghost over my cheek before he cupped my face and turned it up until I had to close my eyes tight to avoid looking at him.

"Mirany."

"I can't talk about this Angel, I can't."

"Why not Mirany? We're just talking."

I sat up, back to him.

"Because I don't want to change my mind," I said quietly.

Angel's arms wrapped tightly around me.

"We don't have to," he whispered in my ear. "I was just...thinking."

"Why? Thinking never leads to anything good," I said, relaxing into his touch. That was not a smart idea.

I knew when Angel sensed me let down my barriers because a moment later I felt him in my head. I shuddered slightly and tried to put my defenses back up but it was too late.

"Angel, you bastard, you don't want to know!"

"Yes I do."

Well if that was the case...If he really wanted to know what I was thinking, what I had been thinking for months, that was his problem. Let him deal with it. At least I didn't have to voice it. It took him a total of five seconds before his grip around me loosened and he pulled away slightly. I got to my feet and stepped out of his reach, turning to look at him, somewhat pleadingly.

"I did warn you," I said.

Angel was staring at a spot on the floor near his feet. It took a moment for him to reply.

"I didn't realise how much you hated you decision," he said, looking up at me with a sort of accusing yet vulnerable stare. "How much you wished you had chosen Connor."

"Angel, I...it doesn't mean I don't love you," I said timidly.

"Forget it," he said shortly, leaving without another word.

"Angel..."

Nothing. He was gone.

"...You only saw the bad," I finished quietly.


	56. Lycanthrope

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**This one follows straight on from the last one. Enjoy :)**

* * *

**_"I'm not afraid of werewolves or vampires or haunted hotels, I'm afraid of what real human beings do to other human beings." - Walter John Williams_**

* * *

I had hated going to bed angry and upset, but I think I hated it even more when I woke up alone. It had become such a rare occurrence lately that it just felt wrong. I didn't know what Angel had wanted me to say. Well, I did, but surely he knew that I had picked him for a reason, and settling down and having a family was certainly not on that list. He was a vampire. I didn't know how Connor had come into existence, but the chances of it happening again were well below none. All I wanted was to go to Angel and prove his every doubt wrong, but Angel needed space. That was clear. Angel needed a nice, long, uninterrupted brood session, and if that was what he needed, who was I to deny him of it?"

I sighed as I got up and checked my phone, just in case. No messages from Angel, but 16 from Connor. It appeared he was worried about me. I pressed the speed dial and waited as the phone connected.

_"Mirany! Jeez, would it kill you to check your phone more often? I have to pay for this phone bill you know?"_

"I'll cover you. What's up?"

_"I should have known that you wouldn't actually listen to my messages," _Connor muttered._ "Well, I noticed dad's lack of compassion towards you at this particular moment and the fact that even now, he still has yet to leave his office, and I was wondering if maybe there was something you wanted to talk about."_

"Maybe you should be asking Angel if there's something _he_ wants to talk about," I suggested, "since I have no bloody clue what happened."

Connor sighed.

_"Mirany, do you want to talk or not?"_

"S'pose it couldn't hurt," I muttered. "You wanna come over?"

_"Why don't you come here?"_

"Because I'm not an idiot and there's no way I'm letting you try to play match maker here!" I snapped. "If you want me to talk, you come here. Otherwise stop overloading my phone with useless messages!"

I hung up on him and scowled at myself in the mirror.

"Good job Mirany, now you've alienated your best friend too," I growled at my reflection. "You're on fire this week."

Maia crept up to me and nuzzled into my leg. I sighed and crouched down, scratching behind her ears.

"Can't alienate you at least."

Maia barked and licked at my face before scampering away to find a toy for me to throw. I straightened up and looked in the mirror again. Being sick certainly hadn't done anything for me. The sickness might be gone, but the slight gauntness of my face hadn't, or the bags under my eyes. Being sick wasn't fun, and neither was the recovery period. Hoped Connor wouldn't get too squeamish at my eating raw meat in front of him.

...

"There. You're now up to date," I said.

"Huh," Connor grunted.

"It's not that bad, is it?" I asked desperately.

"Oh, he'll get over it," said Connor. "Eventually. Give him a couple more hours to brood and he'll be fine."

"But how do you know? He might hate me," I said.

"Mirany, Angel didn't even hate you when you both swore to kill each other one day," Connor pointed out. "He will get over it. He'll come to the same conclusion any other rational person would. That because you're still with him, there's got to be a pretty damn good reason that combats any doubts you might have. Just give him some time and space. He'll come to his senses."

I sighed.

"I guess you're right," I muttered.

"Of course I'm right. I've lived with him my whole life."

"Fair enough," I muttered.

"You know, he might be alright, but will you?" asked Connor.

"I'm not having this conversation again Connor, especially now that I know you're gay, because I'm not going to encourage your denying it any more," I said.

"I'm not gay," Connor growled through gritted teeth, "and I wasn't asking if you wanted to get back with me, I was asking if your were okay? You don't have to get back with me, but...he can't have a family Mirany. He can't have any of that. The reason I'm here is because I was born to be a champion. I was a 'gift', if you will, from the Powers That Be. It won't happen again. And I know that since you started bonding with Toni you've considered it. Don't you think maybe you're better off with someone that can have a family?"

"I don't want any other family than the one I've got," I said firmly. "The one I had. If I ever wanted a kid, it would be Toni, because there's no guarantee that any child of mine would be like her and she's the only kid I've ever liked. I don't need anything more than what I have right now. All of you have spent the past four years telling me that _you're_ my family. That I shouldn't dwell on my old family because I still have one. Why would I want another one? This one's hard enough not to disown."

Connor was fighting a grin.

"You would never disown us. Who would you have to ridicule without complaint?"

"Anyone who wants to suck up to me," I pointed out.

"Who doesn't want your money," Connor added.

"No one," I agreed. "Although Cordelia seems pretty intent in getting her name on the will."

"Speaking of-"

"I don't have one," I cut over him. "I'm young. I'm invincible."

"Of course," Connor muttered. "How stupid of me to think otherwise. As if you'd be prepared for the worst. I mean, it's not as if you're ever in dangerous situations right? Why would you need one?"

"Exactly," I said, smirking. This was why I liked talking to Connor. He could be sarcastic without driving me up the wall.

"Well, it's probably time I took my leave," Connor muttered, getting to his feet. "I have an assignment I need to do if you want me to uphold your reputation. Oh, um, when I left, dad was leaving too. He said if you had any urge to find him, he was going riding."

"Riding?" I asked. "Riding what?"

...

As it turned out, Angel rode horses, and he was good at it too. Probably those two hundred years in which that was the only way to get anywhere fast. He probably would have gotten a fair amount of practice. I watched from a safe distance behind the paddock fence as Angel slowed the horse down to a stop and raised an eyebrow at me.

"Still don't like them?"

"You don't just snap out of a phobia Angel," I pointed out. "I might not be completely scared of them, but there is no way I'm going near that thing."

"Your loss," Angel shrugged, jumping down from the horse and tying it to the fence. "Here to talk some sense into me?"

"Please, I'm not a miracle worker," I snorted, starting to walk away slowly.

Angel smiled slightly as he climbed over the fence and fell into step with me. We walked in silence for maybe fifteen minutes, and the moment I had finally figured out exactly what to say...

"I'm sorry for being such a douche," said Angel. "I shouldn't have even looked, and I know that I couldn't have seen everything there was to see because...otherwise you wouldn't still be with me."

"And I should have just answered you," I said. "Truthfully. Angel, of course I've thought about settling down. I was going to, with Connor. I spend half my time with a seven-year-old. But I don't want that life if I can't have it with you, and I can't. We can't settle down. We certainly can't have kids. And if we did settle down, I'd have a step-son that was older than me. I like this life, I like what we have, and I wouldn't ask for anything different. And...no matter what I was thinking when you asked, I don't regret choosing you. We have something Angel that...that I never had with Connor. No matter what I felt for Connor, I still feel more strongly for you. It's just a different feeling. A good feeling."

Angel took my hand.

"I know," he said. "And you're right. Nobody wants a step-son that's older than them."

I grinned and stood on tiptoe to kiss him swiftly.

"You still don't look too good," said Angel when I broke away.

I shrugged.

"Just after effects. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes," I said firmly. "I just need some food and sunlight. I'll be fine. Really. It's not the first time I've gotten sick."

"I just...you really don't look well."

"I'll be alright Angel. Just give it a couple of days," I said, brushing his cheek.

Angel sighed slightly, smiling.

"Alright. Come on. You should see this."

I raised an eyebrow at him curiously, but allowed him to pull me back the way we'd come. He pulled me into in paddock and I skirted around the horse he'd been riding as it snorted it's distaste at being tied to the fence. Angel smirked but pulled me further until we were at the other side of the paddock. I hadn't realised we had been on a cliff. When I'd driven here, I hadn't felt the incline, but now I could see that we were a good few hundred metres up, and we were looking out at the sea. The night was starless, but the moon was high and full, and shone brightly over the sea. Reflecting in the water, the scene was stunning.

"Wow. It's beautiful," I said.

Somewhere, I heard a wolf howl.

"Do we have wolves in LA?" I asked Angel.

Angel looked worried.

"No."

I stared at him.

"You don't think-?"

"Werewolf? Oh, I'm thinkin' it."

"Meet back at the hotel?"

"Bring your dog. And a gun."

Picture perfect moment ruined by the werewolf, we both split.

...

"Couldn't it have just been some wolf at a reservation somewhere?" asked Connor.

"No. Wolves have been exterminated from the entire state," said Wesley.

"How could you possibly know that?" asked Cordelia.

"I read. Something you might benefit from too," said Wesley coolly. "Angel, I don't mean to stand up for the vicious animal, but this is a human life as well."

"Well, what would you propose then Wes?" asked Angel as he slipped silver rounds into the revolver I hadn't touched since I'd threatened Sandelle last year.

"Didn't there used to be an old wives tale about werewolves that if you kill the werewolf who turned someone, all the people they turned will go back to normal?"

"You're still killing someone," said Angel.

"Oh," I muttered, rubbing behind Maia's ears.

Angel pulled me aside.

"Maybe you should sit this one out."

I stared at him.

"What? Why?" I asked.

Angel frowned slightly.

"Oh, Angel, it was five years ago," I sighed.

"I know Mirany, and I'm not saying that I think you're going to fall back into it again or anything like that, I just..."

Angel paused.

"...I just think that it wouldn't end well if we kill this werewolf and it changes back to normal and you see a human body lying there at your hand. It could seriously hurt you and I don't want that."

"You've done a pretty good job of that all by yourself," I said pointedly.

Angel withdrew. He looked like I'd slapped him. I closed my eyes.

"I'm sorry," I muttered. "That...that was uncalled for. And not true. I understand what you're saying Angel but...I think you're going to need my help. I'm the only one here, other than you, who can't be turned into werewolf."

"Oh really? What makes you think that?"

"I'm already a wolf," I said.

Angel considered me.

"That actually makes some sense. Can't change you if you're already there. Alright, look, you can come, but I'm not letting you pull the trigger."

"Fine," I said, going back over to the others and Maia.

"You mean to tell me that there's no other way to change a werewolf back to normal?" asked Connor.

"The only thing that has relative success is aconite, uh...wolf's bane, but even that doesn't cure lycanthropy. It just makes the werewolf...well...tame for the few days over the full moon."

"Besides, we don't have any aconite," said Angel, clipping the magazine of the revolver back into place. "And we don't have the skills or the time to make a wolf's bane potion."

"Potion?" I asked, smirking. "What are we, wizards?"

"That's what you need to be to tame a werewolf," said Angel seriously. "No, silver bullet to the heart. That's all that'll stop it. Maybe it'll be with a pack, or the wolf that made it, if we're lucky, and we can take the whole lot out. We do not need werewolves running around LA."

"Angel, this is...this is going to be difficult, and it's going to be messy," Wesley warned. "You're going to have to be extremely fast. You can't hesitate with this."

"Thank you," said Angel sarcastically, "after you told me that I'm still going to be killing a human anyway."

"Well, I'm sorry Angel but-"

"I know Wesley. It's not the first time I've killed a werewolf," said Angel, smirking. "Just thought I ought to point out that you're not exactly instilling much confidence."

"Sorry," Wesley muttered sheepishly.

"How do we find it?" asked Connor, taking up a crossbow and silver-tipped arrows.

Angel gestured at Maia.

"Wanna find a dog, use a dog," he said.

"You want me to send my dog after a vicious werewolf?" I asked indignantly.

"Nobody said it was vicious yet," said Angel. "And I'm not asking you to tell her to fight it, just to look for it."

I scowled.

"If she gets hurt, I'll hurt you just as badly," I threatened.

"She'll be fine," Angel insisted. "Come on. Let's see if we can find it before morning. The sooner we catch this thing, the better."

He slipped my revolver into his belt and tossed me a silver knife.

"Let's go."

I whistled to Maia, who trotted after us, and Connor followed behind her.

"Yay, dog hunt," he muttered sarcastically.

...

"Angel."

Angel looked around from talking with Connor. Maia had come scampering back to me, yelping. He usually snow white muzzle was red with blood. Angel hurried over.

"Where'd she come from?" he asked.

I clipped Maia to a fence and looked over at the park she came from.

"In here."

I led the way into the park, past the bushes blocking the view of most of the scenery and almost threw up.

"Whoa, look away, look away," said Connor, grabbing me and turning me away from the three bodies.

Angel shuddered as he looked at the ravaged bodies. They were truly gruesome. They didn't even resemble humans anymore. They were just bloodied piles on the ground.

"Their hearts are gone. Werewolf."

"Ew. Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew," I muttered.

"You're a wolf, shouldn't you be immune to this sort of thing?" asked Connor. "I mean, in any normal circumstance, you would have done exactly the same thing."

Now I really did throw up.

"Connor," Angel growled.

"Sorry," Connor muttered, rubbing my back. "Any idea where it went?"

A snarl ripped through the park, followed shortly by a scream.

"I can guess," Angel muttered fervently, taking off in the direction of the sounds.

"You alright?" asked Connor.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go," I said, running after Angel.

It wasn't hard to find Angel. The screaming didn't stop, and when we got there, we saw why. There was more than one. Angel had tackled one werewolf, but there was another chasing another a young woman. I dived for it at once and Connor took hold of the woman, dragging her away before she could faint. The werewolf did not like being pinned to the ground. It writhed under me as I pressed my forearm to it's throat, trying to cut off it's oxygen supply, but the thing was strong. It bucked upwards and I was thrown off it, landing hard against a tree trunk and almost falling on my head as I dropped to the ground. From my upside down position, I saw it dive and I kicked out at it, sending it flipping backwards.

It growled and dived at my legs, mouth working furiously. I rolled out of the way, but not before it had latched onto my calf. I yelled and kicked at it's face with my other leg, but it wouldn't let go, and instead proceeded to shake my leg around as though we were playing tug-o-war. It's strong jaws holding my leg tightly, it's teeth were tearing at the flesh underneath. It was going to reduce my leg to tatters. I didn't wait to see that happen and instead let myself transform, growling. I wound up my strength and kicked out again, landing a hand blow to the middle of it's snout. It yelped and let go. I kicked again, this time sweeping it into the air as I struggled to my feet, leaning against the tree and inspecting the damage it had done to my leg. It wasn't pretty, that was for sure.

The werewolf landed on it's feet and snarled at me, but it seemed to sense there was something different about me now that I'd change, and instead turned and ran towards Angel, who was having enough trouble with his own werewolf. Before it could reach him though, a crossbow bolt shot out from behind me and into it's leg. It howled in pain and turned to see who had shot it. It had been Connor, but he was far enough away that the werewolf didn't notice him, and instead found me. But now it was injured, and it showed as it leapt at me in a clumsy, lopsided way. That didn't stop it from slashing at me with bloodied claws. I snarled in pain as it ripped into my shoulder and hit it hard over the head before pulling the knife from my belt and stabbing up into it's rib cage. The werewolf crumpled. It wasn't dead, but it wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

A BANG resounded through park. Alarmed, I looked over at Angel, who had managed to get to his feet at some point. On the ground in front of him was the werewolf he had been fighting, now whimpering shallowly. BANG! I started as Angel let off the gun again, right into the creature's heart. I watched as it died, changing slowly back into the human it had been. He was short, and a little chubby, with sandy blonde hair and a rounded face, and now he was staring into the park with blank green eyes. I turned away as Angel shot again, this time at the werewolf near me, shuddering.

Angel put the safety back on the gun and came over to me, holding my shoulders gently, careful to avoid aggravating the slash wounds on my left side. He was injured as well. Blood was dripping off his arm at his elbow, but I couldn't actually see what was causing the bleeding, and since he was using his arm just fine, I assumed it wasn't a terrible injury. He had a bite at the wrist and there were gashes on his legs where the werewolf's back claws had ripped into him. I could, slightly, feel the pain he was in, but not nearly as much as I'm sure he could feel I was in. That was probably the plus side of being the protectee as opposed to Angel's position as the protector.

"Don't look," he said quietly and I nodded.

"You guys okay?" asked Connor, coming over to us.

"Do we _look_ okay to you?" I snapped, moving as if to walk and half collapsing when I put my weight onto my tattered leg. Angel and Connor both caught me under an arm. "Where were you while they were ripping us to shreds?"

"Helping people who couldn't survive a werewolf attack run away," said Connor, "and then shooting at them from afar."

"Wimp," I muttered.

I was beginning to feel dizzy and lightheaded. Angel gripped me tighter and pulled my arm over his shoulder.

"We should leave. She needs medical attention. I'm gonna take her back to her place, to Jason. Think you can do one last sweep, just to make sure?"

Connor nodded and took the gun.

"See you later."

...

"You have got to be kidding me if you think I'm going to walk around with one of those," I told Jason simply. "I'm not seventy!"

"Mirany, either you use the walking stick, or you don't walk," said Jason.

I huffed and grabbed hold of the cane.

"This is so degrading," I muttered, leaning on Jason's shoulder and pulling myself to my feet.

"Hey, you're lucky you heal so fast, otherwise you'd be in a wheelchair," Jason pointed out.

"That'd be fun," I said, grinning at the idea of doing donuts and wheelies in a chair.

"No, it wouldn't," said Jason. "It's not that bad Mirany. You'll only be using it for a day or two, then you'll be fully healed. I'm amazed that your leg threaded back together so fast. Wait a second, didn't you say that it was a werewolf that did this?"

"Yeah, but because I'm already a wolf, I shouldn't turn into a werewolf, right?" I asked.

"That may be so, but I still think we should run some tests," said Jason. "Come down to the lab?"

"Oh yay, more blood tests," I muttered with false enthusiasm.

"Wouldn't you rather blood tests over having to be shot in the heart by your boyfriend?" asked Jason pointedly.

"Well when you put it like that," I muttered.

"Speaking of, where is tall, dark and fangsome?" asked Jason.

"Probably about three seconds away from falling unconscious due to pain," I sighed. "He got his own injuries, plus he feels mine so he's probably just trying to keep from crying right now."

Jason snorted.

"The day that man cries will be a very sorry day for the world," he said, keying in the pass code to the lab and holding the door open for me.

"No arguments here," I said.

_The day who cries?_

_You know, it's rude to listen in on other people's conversations._

_I only just zoned in. I wanted to know how you were doing and you were still mid-conversation at the time._

_I'm okay. Jason's about to take large amounts of the little blood I have left in my body, but otherwise, I'm just going to keep popping the painkillers until I'm either better or slip into a coma._

I could almost see Angel rolling his eyes at this.

"Alright, give us your arm."

_You gonna come over?_ I asked as Jason pulled some form of strap tight around the top of my arm to build up the blood.

_Soon. There's a few things I want to take care of first._

_Anything I can do?_

_Nah. I'll be round this afternoon, okay?_

_Sure._

"Ow!"

I frowned at Jason as he began to draw the blood from my arm.

"That was unnecessarily brutal!" I objected.

Jason raised an eyebrow at me.

"You just had your leg shredded to pieces and you're complaining about my sticking you with a toothpick sized needle?" he asked.

"You didn't stick me, you bloody well stabbed me!" I said indignantly.

"Yes Mirany. Because I hate you so much that I thought I would take out some of that anger on you by stabbing you wildly with a small needle, as opposed to sticking it in carefully where I knew I'll be able to get blood and planning an even more terrible revenge later on," said Jason sarcastically.

I scowled at him.

"Just get it over with," I muttered.

...

"Why don't any of you ever tell me when you get injured?" asked Farthington, scowling at me. "I wouldn't come if I knew you couldn't train!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was under the impression that getting my injuries fixed was more important than getting calling you to tell you that I've got injuries," I said pointedly. "But don't worry, I will rectify that mistake right away, so that calling you to tell you I can't train is the first thing on my list when I'm dying of blood loss."

"You said that last time," Farthington pointed out. "And may I also point out that it's been a day since your injury, you've had plenty of time to call me."

I huffed.

"Look, since you're not needed, can you please leave?" I asked, hobbling over to the door and holding it open.

Farthington watched me as I walked, a sort of sad, sympathetic look on his face.

"Do you need help Mirany?" he asked.

"What I need is for you to leave," I said pointedly. "And I certainly don't need your pity."

"Mirany, you've been seriously injured, you're allowed to ask for help," he said.

"I'm not asking! You're just trying to push me into it!"

"Mirany, for heaven's sake, you can barely walk," Farthington pointed out.

"I don't need your help, alright? Look, Angel will be here soon, he'll take care of me. You're not needed. Please, just go."

Farthington frowned.

"Please?" I asked.

"Oh, hey Edward. Didn't Mirany tell you she couldn't train?" asked Angel, appearing on the other side of the door.

"No," said Farthington simply. "Alright, I'm leaving. But it you need any-"

"I won't, good bye," I cut over him, pushing him past Angel.

"What was that about?" asked Angel as I closed to door.

"Nothing," I sighed, resting my forehead on his shoulder. "Did Connor find any more?"

"No," said Angel, "he didn't."

He pulled my gun from his belt and handed it to me.

"I'm somewhat torn as to whether or not to give this back to you, but since you can just go and buy another one, it doesn't really matter," he muttered.

"I'm not gonna shoot myself Angel," I said, taking the revolver and opening the chamber. "Or anyone else. Hey, there's only one bullet left."

"Yeah? So?" asked Angel, walking into the living room and pulling two beers from the fridge.

"Well, this is a five round gun and you only shot three last night. If Connor didn't find any more...where's the other bullet?"

Angel bit his lip as he turned around.

"You asked if Connor found any more. _He_ didn't," he said. "However, he did find a third set of tracks..."

"That was what you were doing? Going after the last one?" I asked.

Angel grimaced slightly.

"It's not night. They wouldn't have...so you just...?"

"I made sure Mirany. I knew exactly who they were and they didn't see it coming."

"Angel...how is that...how could you look at a human form and just shoot them in the back?" I asked.

Angel sighed and sat down, gesturing me down beside him.

"I'm a vampire Mirany," he said. "Unfortunately...it's my nature. It's what I'm programmed to do. And, of course I feel guilty, but there was no other way and I couldn't risk anyone else getting hurt. That's why I didn't want you to come. You already saw me shoot two people, you didn't need to see me shoot another one, especially when they hadn't transformed."

I took a couple of steadying breaths. I couldn't be angry with him. It wasn't as if he was the only one who had killed before, and if he really had made sure...well, the person was a werewolf. But still...

"I get it," I said quietly, taking a beer from him. "It's alright Angel, I just...I guess whatever you've been doing to me for the past years has worked. There's no way in hell I could ever go back."

"I dunno. Sometimes I see that 'I'll kill you in your sleep' look and it actually scares me," said Angel, smirking.

"Good! Something has too," I muttered. "Otherwise how am I supposed to gain any footing in this relationship?"

"We could have a relationship based on mutual love and respect rather than power," Angel suggested.

"Nah, power's better," I said, grinning and kissing him. "Mutual love and respect. Don't make me laugh."

Angel chuckled and tangled his fingers into my hair.

"Guess it was a long shot."


	57. Book of Spells

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**So, I'm currently writing a different Angel story from this one called Conversations with Demons, and I decided that the character I introduced into that would work well in this one too, so I've sort of made the other one a bit of a prequel to this one. I haven't finished the other one yet, but you're welcome to look it up to get a more detailed picture if you'd like :)**

* * *

**_"Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it." - P.J. O'Rourke_**

* * *

"Hey, has anyone seen Wesley today?"

Cordelia and Connor both looked up at me, frowning.

"No," they both said.

"Heard from Wesley?"

Both shook their heads.

"Checked to find out whether Wesley was alive or not?" I asked pointedly.

"Well, yesterday he said he'd just gotten hold of one of those types of books that Watchers would kill each other over, so I assume he's at home, reading," said Cordelia. "What's the big deal? Clearly we're not missing him."

"_I'm_ missing him," I said pointedly.

"Okay, let me rephrase. No one important is missing him," said Cordelia.

"Cordelia, I own you."

"We should go and make sure Wesley's alright because the _very_ important boss is worried," said Cordelia quickly, hitting Connor until he got to his feet as well. "Road trip!"

...

"Wesley? Wes, you here?"

I leant against the invisible barrier stopping me from entering Wesley's apartment. Well, at least he was alive. He had never invited me into his apartment. Probably a good thing. If I ever turned, ever did something terrible, there would be one safe place for everyone to go. Cordelia and Connor were walking in, calling for Wesley.

"Check the library," I said.

"Angel, this is an apartment. There's no library," said Cordelia.

"Wesley would have a library," I said simply. "Hence why the bed's out here."

Connor shrugged.

"Can't argue with that logic. Man doesn't even call, misses a day of work in a business like this, just to read a book. Gotta have a library. Only door I see is to a bathroom though."

"Check in that cupboard," I said, pointing to the overly large cupboard. "Push on the back wall."

"You really think that Wesley has a secret library?" asked Cordelia.

"If you were Watcher, wouldn't you?" I asked.

"So glad I'm not a Watcher," Cordelia muttered.

Connor pressed on the wall of the cupboard and it swung open, showing a large room lined with bookshelves and Wesley sitting in an armchair, head lolled back in sleep, book on his lap.

"Wes?"

Connor moved over to the sleeping Wesley and yelped slightly.

"What?" I asked urgently.

"He's...old."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean he's old! He looks like...a hundred years old or something!"

"What's he reading?" asked Cordelia, moving to pick up the book.

"Don't touch it!"

Cordelia and Connor both looked at me.

"Do touch it with your bare skin," I warned. "Fine a towel or something, pick it up with that, bring it to me. Do not let your skin touch it."

Cordelia did as I instructed, grabbing a couple of dish cloths and picking up the book.

"Connor, get him in the car. He's still alive, take him to a hospital."

"Dad, if this is magic-"

"He's dying of old age Connor. He's human, he needs a hospital," I said as Cordelia brought the book over to me.

"Do you want a towel or something?" she asked.

"I'm dead already," I said simply, taking the book from her and closing it. "And I don't age."

The book was leather bound and heavy and the inside cover read...

"'The Lives of All Those Before You'," I read out. "Kinda catchy, I guess."

"Try kinda creepy," said Cordelia pointedly, helping Connor drag Wesley out to the car.

I shrugged, pulling out my phone and dialing Mirany's number.

"I dunno. I've seen creepier."

_"What do you want now?"_

"Why are you so grumpy? I haven't even opened my mouth and you're ripping into me. Come on Mir, lay off a little."

_"Sorry, I'm tired."_

"Is Farthington there?"

_"Excuse me?"_

"We have a problem and he's probably the best guy to deal with it."

_"So you call me? Why not just call him?"_

"Because if he's anything like Wesley, he doesn't own a mobile phone. Is he there?"

_"You called just in time. He was about to leave. Damn you."_

"Put him on."

_"Not even a 'sorry, I love you'? I'm not sure I even wanna talk to you."_

"Sorry, I love you," I said.

_"I love you too,"_ said Farthington sarcastically.

"That was fast."

_"She was literally pushing me out of the door. I wasn't far away. What can I do for you Angel?"_

"Ever heard of a very rare book dubbed 'The Lives of All Those...'"

_"'...Before You'. It's famous. I know many Watchers who would kill just to lay eyes on it."_

"Yeah well, better hope that's all they do," I muttered. "I need your help. Will you come to the hotel?"

_"You have the book, don't you?"_

"Yeah."

_"I'll be there in fifteen minutes,"_ said Farthington.

"Can you put Mirany back on?"

_"She doesn't want to talk to you."_

"Didn't think so," I muttered. "Alright, could you bring her over?"

_"I'll do my best."_

...

"Show me the book," said Farthington, the moment he and Mirany got to the hotel.

"Please, please, please, show him the book," Mirany groaned.

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"He's been talking non-stop about it," she groaned.

"Let me see it," Farthington ordered.

"First you need to see Wesley."

"Wyndam-Pryce? What about him?" Farthington growled.

"He's a hundred years old," I said.

Mirany snorted.

"In theory, damn right he is. Dude's worse than you."

"Thank you," I said coolly. "No, he's _literally_ a hundred years old. He's at the hospital a few blocks away."

"I don't understand," said Mirany.

"Let me show you a picture," said Cordelia, taking out her phone and handing it to Mirany. "Recognize him? Found him in his secret library reading your special book."

Mirany stared at the phone in shock.

"That's...no. Is that really...?"

"Yeah," I said as she passed the phone to Farthington. "He looks ancient, I know. But it's true. And it's because he was reading that book. You can look at it, fine, but whatever you do, don't touch it."

"How did a _book_ do this?" Mirany asked as I collected the book.

"Magic, what else?" asked Cordelia.

"Oh, great," Mirany muttered enthusiastically.

"Mirany, if you don't wanna help on this one, that's fine," I said, coming back with the book in my hands. "It's not exactly your area of expertise and you've seen your fair share of magic already."

"Oh thank God," Mirany muttered. "So I'm not needed here?"

"Uh...no," I said.

"Good."

Mirany turned to leave but I grabbed her hand before she could.

"I'd still like to have a word, if that's alright," I said.

"Oh. Okay," Mirany muttered.

"Can I please have the book?" asked Farthington impatiently.

"Oh for God's sake, give him the fucking book," Mirany groaned, moving over to the couch and flopping down into the cushions.

"If you touch this, at all, it will turn you into the same old man that it turned Wesley into," I warning, glancing over at Mirany with concern. She was usually grumpy, but not usually _this_ grumpy. "I know you're getting on in age already, but you're not quite there yet so Cordelia could you get him some gloves or something to wear?"

Farthington scowled when I called him old, and I was expecting him to come back with some form of remark about my age, but apparently he was too interested in the book to care about anything other than getting hold of it and he snatched the gloves eagerly from Cordelia, hurriedly putting them on so that two of his fingers were in the same finger of the glove before taking the book from me and disappearing into Wesley's office.

"How did he even know that was Wesley's office?" I asked.

"Because he comes around when you're not here," said Cordelia, picking up a magazine. "You don't need me right? I mean, research is much more your area of expertise than mine."

I rolled my eyes.

"I doubt that I'd be able to get you to any research anyway," I muttered. "Mirany, walk with me."

Mirany huffed and got grudgingly to her feet, following me out into the courtyard and around the edge. She made certain she was walking in the sun.

"Mirany, what's bothering you?" I asked, sticking to the shade so as not to set fire.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

"No, you're not. Don't lie to me Mirany."

"Yes, I am," said Mirany firmly.

"Mirany, I have all eternity to play this game," I pointed out.

"_I'm fine_ Angel," Mirany growled.

"Don't make me do it Mirany," I said.

Mirany sighed.

"Saria and I were talking this morning. Well, fighting."

"Ah, the Wicked Witch of the West," I muttered. "What digging insult did she make this time?"

"She said she didn't want me around Tori because I'm a cold hearted, manipulative player," Mirany whined.

"Tori huh? What did you do to her?"

Mirany scratched the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Took over about a quarter of her company," she muttered, "by...using my assets effectively on some of her corporate spies."

"Using your assets effectively?"

"I didn't do anything, I just...implied that I might," said Mirany carefully, biting her lip.

"So, you seduced her spies into blabbing secrets about her company, and then you took it over?" I summed up.

"Only a quarter of it. Barely enough to keep the wolf from the door."

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"You _are_ the wolf at the door," I said.

Mirany scowled and made a rude gesture at me. I chuckled.

"Mirany, you're a business tycoon. You're going to get insults. Why are you letting this one bother you? It's not like it's the first time she's insulted you."

"Because she's not letting me near Tori," said Mirany. "And I'm not a tycoon!"

"Mirany, she says that every week. And tycoon just means that you're wealthy and powerful doofus."

"Yeah well, this time I think she means it!" said Mirany. "She's _really_ pissed off at me. But I don't understand why my business with her company should affect me and Tori."

"It's not the business Mirany, it's the attitude, it's the personality traits your trading tends to bring out in you," I said.

"What? You don't think it brings out undesirable traits in Saria?" Mirany shot angrily.

"Saria's a bitch to everyone already. You're...well you're a bitch too, but it gets more extreme when you're doing business."

Mirany was not at all impressed with that statement.

"And you wonder why I'm pissed," she growled.

I bit my lip.

"Well it's true," I muttered. "Look, it was one comment. Just look past it and move on."

"Oh, no. She's declared war," said Mirany fervently.

"No, I think that was you. And I completely forbid your 'declaring war' on Saria's company."

"And you'll be stopping me how?"

I scowled.

"By...appealing to your better judgement, if such a creature exists," I muttered.

"You're not helping my mood," said Mirany pointedly.

"Mirany, come on, you're just being stupid now. She's just protecting her kid."

"She's being a total bitch about it," said Mirany.

"I thought we already established that you should be able to take that."

Mirany glowered at me.

"Why do I even talk to you anymore?" she asked.

"Because without me, you'd be a very lonely person."

"You're not the only person I'm friends with you know," Mirany growled.

"Oh really? List five people that you talk to on a regular, friendly basis, not including me."

"Connor. Tori. Thomas...hang on a second! You're one to talk! Outside of this business you don't know a single living soul that doesn't hate your guts."

I chuckled.

"Living? No. But most of the people who can still stand me are undead anyway," I said.

"And they only put up with you so that you won't drive a stake through their chests."

"How did we get onto me? We were talking about you and Saria. Mirany, if you really want to continue to hang around with Tori, you might have to work on changing your personality and your mannerisms a little."

"Speak English."

"Mannerisms is a word Mirany, you're just lacking in an education."

"That's it. I'm leaving," said Mirany simply, turning on her heel and heading for the door, but I blocked it. She stopped just short of where the sunlight was unable to reach, still insisting on my not being able to touch her. I still could have. I was able to enter the sun for a few seconds, certainly long enough to pull her into the shade, but I decided infuriating her even more was probably a bad idea at this point.

"Sorry, that was uncalled for," I said. "However, you cannot deny that you're a complete bitch when you're around Saria, and that she probably thinks you're like that all the time. If you weren't so...you, while you talked to her, Saria would likely allow you to be around Tori again."

"But-"

"Mirany, what do you want me to tell you? If you want to hang around an eight-year-old, you'd have to act differently. Kids are...fragile, and Saria's trying to protect her kid from the vicious weapon which is your mouth."

"Oh my mouth's the vicious weapon?" asked Mirany pointedly.

"You know what? I'm gonna just leave you alone until you've cooled down," I said simply.

"You do that," Mirany growled.

"I will," I said, turning to the door.

"No wait!" said Mirany quickly, finally crossing the sunlight barrier to grab my arm.

I whipped her around and held her fast in a choke hold.

"Saria's daughter is named Toni, a mistake Mirany would never make," I hissed in her ear. "Who are you, what do you want?"

Mirany chuckled evilly.

"Been a long time Fang Face."

I sighed and let her go. Mirany slowly transformed into a nineteen-year-old, with long black hair, bottle green eyes and porcelain skin.

"Kegan."

"You miss me?" asked Kegan, her eyes glinting evilly.

"No wonder you stuck to the sun. I'd imagine transforming like that requires an awful amount of heat energy."

"You'd be correct," said Kegan coolly. "But I'm not here to discuss my powers."

"You want the book."

"No kidding Sherlock."

"Why do you want it?"

"Do you have any idea the bargain your Watcher got on that book? It's worth millions."

"Who's your buyer?"

"None of your concern Pretty Boy. Now if you just give me the book, I'll walk away, and return your busty Slayer. You really do like the Slayers, don't you? Little creepy, actually."

"You can't have the book."

"Why not?"

"I don't deal with you any more Kegan."

"That's not a reason," said Kegan.

"I don't want it falling into the wrong hands. It's dangerous."

"What do you intend to do with it?" asked Kegan.

"Once I figure out how to get Wesley's years back, burn it. And while we're one the subject of getting things back-"

"I told you. Give me the book, and I'll give you the Slayer."

"Sorry if I don't take your word for it," I said coolly. "You know, you've gotten more evil since last we met."

"And whose fault is that?" asked Kegan pointedly.

"You forced my hand."

"You broke your word."

"Because you forced my hand."

"We _both_ have eternity to play this game Blood Boy."

"No you don't. You just have an extra long life. I could out last you."

"_Could_ being the operative word here, meaning that I'd stake you long before then."

"I'm not letting you anywhere near that book," I said. "Where's Mirany?"

"Nowhere you'll ever find her," said Kegan simply, turning away.

"Where is she?" I snarled, grabbing her collar and slamming her up against the wall.

Kegan started laughing.

"You have a fucking blood bond and you're standing here threatening me?" she chuckled. "What is wrong with you?"

"You've knocked her out."

"I'm not that barbaric."

"Why should I trust you?"

"I'm not stopping you from leaving Angel."

I glared at her. If I left, she'd take the book. If I didn't, who knew what might happen to Mirany?

"You're coming with me," I growled.

_Mirany? Mirany, where are you?_

_Who's the girlfriend Angel? She's a bitch._

_I know. Where are you?_

_Some dark warehouse place, tied to a chair, trying to charm my way out of being hit by a fist full of fire. They don't even want anything from me, they just think it'll be fun._

"You've been recruiting," I commented.

Kegan shrugged.

"Girl's gotta have her posse."

"Show me where she is, and I'll let you touch the book."

"I'm not an idiot kiddo."

"Show me where Mirany is, I'll give you the book."

"Give me the book, I'll show you where the girl is."

"She's not a girl. She's a woman, and the next time you touch her, I'll kill you," I growled.

"What if I kill her first?"

I let her go abruptly. Kegan smirked.

"You're still so easy. I have no need to kill her Angel, otherwise I would have done it already. But honestly, you should think about moving in. It's a lot harder to kidnap someone if there's someone else there."

Angel scowled.

"Come on. You're taking me to her. Now."

"Bring the book. You don't have to give it to me until your have your precious princess, but it's just a nice way of showing that you are going to give it to me."

"I actively try _not_ to be nice to you."

"Angel, I don't want to hurt your girl, but I will."

At that exact moment pain erupted on the left side of my face. I growled as it seared at my skin and Kegan smirked.

"Oh right, it hurts you too. Cool."

"Fine," I snarled. "Change back and let's go."

Kegan obeyed, for once, changing slowly back into Mirany's form.

"Isn't it great that we're working together again?" she asked, smiling innocently at me as she passed.

...

"How does the book work?" I asked as Kegan drove Mirany's Maserati to wherever it was we were going.

"Spell," said Kegan simply.

"No kidding," I said coolly. "What sort of spell?"

"Nobody's really sure," said Kegan. "It's some sort of soul-eating spell, as far as I can tell. If you touch that book, it'll immediately begin to record your life, up until the moment you die. Essentially, that means it records your life up until the moment you touch that book. I think the idea is you're being immortalised in the pages, so you don't need your crappy little life any more."

"Who started this?" I asked.

"An alchemist from the fourteenth century. Lord Havish. He was so obsessed with finding the elixir of life, the idea that he could last forever that he made a deal with Wolfram and Hart. No one knows what he had to deliver except for someone at Wolfram and Hart, but they agreed to make him immortal. They just didn't outline how. He thought he'd live forever. Instead, his legacy does, in this book. It has a very fascinating history I'm told, not to mention some of the people who are now trapped within it's pages."

"So how do you reverse the spell's effects?"

"Well, normally for a spell like this, you'd just burn the object, only this book has been burnt so many times and come out unscathed that I'm thinking that won't work, which is good for me, because that means you can't destroy it before you give it to me."

"Is there any other way?"

"Not that I know of. Luckily for your boy, you got that book away before it could completely drain him. There's the possibility he'll slowly go back to normal, but if he doesn't...he didn't look like he had much time left."

"So what do I do?" I asked.

"I dunno. You're the one that cares," said Kegan.

"Kegan."

"Well, I might be able dig something up," Kegan muttered.

"What do you want?"

"Lodgings."

I stared at her.

"What?"

"At your girlfriend's. Look at it this way. I will be right on hand should you ever need my assistance, and I get to stay in the most prestigious mansion in LA, with access to money and cars. We both win."

"I can't invite you to stay at a house that's not mine," I said.

"Oh, and you're so not invited into my room," said Kegan simply.

"No. What else do you want?"

"Nothing. Either you pull this favour for me, or your thirty-year-old friend dies of old age. How exactly did you explain that to the doctors?"

"We just...pretended he'd collapsed in the street in front of us. I'm not letting you stay anywhere near Mirany."

"I won't touch her."

"Why don't I believe you?" I growled.

"How should I know?" asked Kegan pointedly. "Do we have a deal or not?"

I bit my lip.

"I'll try."

"You'll _try_?"

"Well Kegan, unless you haven't noticed, I'm not Mirany."

"You better try very, very hard."

...

"Back off boys, I've got what I want. And next time, wait until I tell you to hit her. Idiots," Kegan muttered.

"Mirany," I breathed, kneeling in front of her as I untied her. "You alright?"

"I'll be fine," Mirany muttered, "after I kill her."

"I'd like to see you try Slayer. I have more of you on my record than your vampire does."

"Yeah, I've been up against people like that before, I still beat them," Mirany growled. "And guess what? You, like all the others, made it personal."

"Mirany wait," I muttered in her ear, holding her back. "She's more powerful than she looks. And she has the keys to your Maserati."

"What?" Mirany hissed.

"Oh yeah," said Kegan, tossing the keys to Mirany. "Just took her for a spin. Hope you don't mind. Oh, you're gonna need to fill it up."

"Who are you?" Mirany growled.

"Your new roommate," said Kegan brightly. "Don't worry, I won't bring my goons, and you don't have to remain tied to a chair the entire time."

Mirany raised an eyebrow at her.

"You're kidding right?"

_Mir, she knows how to help Wes._

_She stole my car and she kidnapped me just to get her hands on a book._

_What do you want me to do Mirany? If she can take you without knocking you out, yet somehow without alerting me either, surely that tells you she's good. And she's one of the most powerful half-demons I've ever known. She's dangerous. But she's not necessarily bad. She does things if there's something in it for her. We could use someone like her._

_What? I'm not powerful enough for you?_

_Mirany._

"How long?" asked Mirany.

"Until I get bored of your place," said Kegan. "But since there's an awful lot of fun to be had in that big old mansion of yours, that could be a while."

_Angel!_

_You don't have to, but we might not find a way to help Wesley if you don't. I'm sorry, I fell into the trap before I knew what she was doing._

_Some protector you are._

"Fine," Mirany sighed. "If you help Wesley."

Kegan held out a flaming hand.

"Shake on it?" she asked, smirking.

Mirany glared at her before taking her hand. I growled as pain shot up my hand and wrist, but Mirany had decided the surprise on Kegan's face was worth the pain. They only shook for a moment, but it was long enough to leave a searing burn on Mirany's hand to match the slowly healing one on her face.

_She can use her powers in her human form!?_

Okay, so Mirany's defiant look was a complete charade, and Kegan probably knew it, but I was damn proud that she had the guts to stand up to the half-demon.

_I did tell you she was powerful._

_I didn't think you meant that powerful!_

_Sorry, next time I'll be more specific. Is your hand okay?_

_I'll live._

"Alright. Take me to the hospital. I'll fix your boy," said Kegan, moving to the door. "Oh, we're going to have to stop at a magick shop. Oh, Mirany, is it? I need your credit card pin."

Mirany glared at me.

"I don't think Wesley's worth this," she muttered.

"It doesn't get better," I warned her, steering her after Kegan.

...

"What are you doing?" asked Mirany.

"Painting an ancient symbol on an ancient book in ancient dragon blood so revive your ancient friend," said Kegan coolly. "Now shut up and hold your candle."

"Excuse me?"

"You're excused," said Kegan simply, dipping her fingers back in the jar of blood and beginning to paint the same symbol on Wesley's face. "Fang Face, grab a knife."

"What?"

"I need someone who's already dead," said Kegan. "Start bleeding."

Mirany handed me a flick knife, a smirk on her face.

"She actually reminds me of me," she said.

"I figured you might warm up to her," I muttered, taking the knife and moving over to Kegan. "Where do you want it?"

"In there," said Kegan, gesturing at the stone bowl beside her. "'Bout half a quart."

"Half a quart! Why not just slit my throat and be done with it?" I asked indignantly.

"Okay," said Kegan, snatching up the knife and slashing at me. I ducked out of the way with a yelp. Mirany snickered.

"This might just be fun," she said as I took the knife off Kegan, scowling. "Start cutting. I can hang you upside down if you want."

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'd like to see you try."

"I'll hold him while you tie him," Kegan offered.

I sighed as I pressed the blade into my skin. I knew Mirany would get along with Kegan, but I had hoped that they wouldn't start ganging up on me for a little while to come.

"This was a bad idea," I muttered.

"Yeah, I'm sure your dad said the same thing about you," Kegan commented absentmindedly.

I growled at her but there was no point. She knew perfectly well I wasn't going to touch her.

"Alright, stop bleeding, take her candle. Mirany, over here."

"How come you'll use her name but I'm vampire or Fang Face?" I complained.

"I like her," said Kegan simply. "She has money."

Mirany smirked.

"Ah, who says money can't buy love?" she asked, moving over to Kegan. "What do you want?"

"Fur."

"Fur? I don't have fur."

Kegan looked her up and down and plucked a couple of white strands off Mirany's clothes.

"Your dog does," she said.

"What are you, the female version of Sherlock Holmes?" Mirany asked.

"Close enough," said Kegan, shrugging.

"Cool," Mirany shrugged.

"Okay, I need you to go distract the nurse. This is only going to take a minute but just in case. He's male."

"Well then, distractions I can do," said Mirany, undoing the top button of her shirt.

"Hey!" I objected.

"Don't worry sweetie," said Mirany, kissing me swiftly. "I won't do anything you wouldn't have done back when you knew how to flaunt your sex appeal."

"That doesn't comfort me," I said fervently.

Mirany rolled her eyes and walked out of the room.

"Hold his hand," Kegan ordered.

I did so, and a moment later, a flame popped up on the candle. Kegan took up the knife and began to chant.

"ego compello Vox Ut Exsisto. solvo animus ut erant pallium. reverto ut suum vox proprietas. plaga is libri of vomica. sino captus praecessi solvo."

She sliced into her hand, holding the wound above the bowl, trickling her blood into it. The contents of the bowl sparked and flashed as the boiling red liquid hit it. The symbols painted on the book and on Wesley's face glowed a soft purple colour, then the book lit up with a blinding white light. Shielding my eyes, I tried to see what was happening, but the light was too intense. When it died down, I saw that the symbols had disappeared, along with the contents of the bowl, and Wesley's body was quickly rejuvenating.

"You're welcome," said Kegan, closing the book. "Hope I can still fence this."

"Sorry to ruin your product while saving my friend's life," I said sarcastically.

"No, it should be alright. The buyer's not stupid enough to touch it himself, and if he tries to use it on anyone...well, he's never gonna find me again."

"Thank you. Kegan I-"

"I don't wanna hear it Fang Face. I'm not hanging around to help you."

"Then why are you hanging around? It's not just because you can drive some cool cars and spend a bit of money."

"Because the Slayer and I happen to have a common enemy," said Kegan. "Saria Overwood."

"Wait. You're hanging around to help _Mirany_?"

Kegan raised her eyebrows as an affirmation of my question before hefting the book and walking out of the room without another word.

"See you later then!" I called after her.

...

"I think I could get used to her," said Mirany. "She can be a little...evil, but she's alright. I dunno about the fire pit in what used to be my wine cellar, but otherwise...she's cool."

"Well I'm glad you like her, because I have a feeling you won't be getting rid of her any time soon," I said, sitting down on the bed beside her. "Oh, I'd keep an eye on here around Maia. There's every possibility she'll want to dissect her at some point."

"What? Why?"

"She's a mad scientist at heart," I said, shrugging as I brushed her fringe out of her eyes.

"I'll take your word for it. Do you wanna stay?"

"Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. I've been thinking. Maybe it's time we discussed actually living together."

"You want to move in too?" asked Mirany. "Why? You already spend three quarters of your life here."

"Look, you were kidnapped, and I didn't know a thing about it until Kegan approached me. What sort of a protector am I if I'm not around to protect?"

"It wasn't your fault Angel."

"Maybe, but it still highlights the problem. When you're here but I'm not, you're open to attack."

"I can hold my own Angel."

"I know, and I'm not saying that you're helpless without me, but you are more vulnerable. And like you said, I spend most of my time here anyway. It makes sense for me to move in. It made sense for me to move in months ago."

"What about the hotel?"

"Most people drive to work Mirany. It's a fifteen minute drive, and most of the time, it's Wesley that takes the cases anyway. I just do the leg work. And Connor will still be there. Mirany, it works."

"Angel, you don't have to convince me," said Mirany, smirking as she propped herself up on her elbows. "I just want to make sure that you've actually thought about everything that needs to be thought about."

"I have," I said firmly. "Besides, now that you've got a raving lunatic in your wine cellar who you happen to like, you're going to need someone around here who'll be cautious when dealing with Kegan. Someone who's able to actually break down the 'friendly suggestions' into what they really are."

"Well Angel, if you're sure this is what you want, of course you can move in. But on one condition."

"What's that?" I asked.

"If you lose your sex appeal, I'm tossing you to the curb."

I grinned and leant in to kiss her.

"Well then, we better make sure that doesn't happen."


	58. Ground Rules

*****AUTHOR'S NOTE*****

**So, I had a quote for this one, but then I changed parts of the story and the quote no longer fit. I tried to find a new one, but you'll see for yourself, the chapter doesn't really have a singular theme and I wasn't going to try to find a quote for each different theme.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to review!**

* * *

"Okay. That's it. We _need_ to set some ground rules."

Angel and Kegan both rolled their eyes at me.

"You really think setting ground rules is going to change anything?" asked Angel. "She's an evil demon."

"Neutral!" Kegan snapped, her eyes flaring.

Angel shrugged.

"Whatever."

"Would you two shut up for two seconds and behave?" I asked frustratedly. "I'm serious. You have completely stripped me of all good nature!"

Angel snorted and Kegan raised an eyebrow at me.

"I always behave," she said smoothly.

"And you didn't have any good nature to begin with," said Angel.

"Okay, let me put it a different way," I growled, "SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN!"

Angel and Kegan both sat.

"_Now_ this feels like home," Kegan muttered.

"Your father practice his torturing skills on you before he moved on to the world?" asked Angel frostily.

"Hey, you shut up about my father. You have not earned the right to talk about him," Kegan growled.

"What are you gonna do? You kill me, you lose your house for-"

"I SAID SHUT UP!" I all but screamed at them.

They fell silent abruptly.

"Okay, first off, when I want to talk to the two of you, you don't complain, you don't brush me off, you sit and you listen without a word," I growled. "Not only do I have the ability to throw both of you back out on the street, I also have the capability to kill you both. You're both going to live for a very, very long time, so I don't think that a ten minute talk is going to cause you much inconvenience."

"Care to test that?" asked Kegan.

I stood my ground, glaring at her and she shut up, rolling her eyes.

"Alright, look, I have tolerated you both for the past fortnight because I thought you might have still been going through some sort of 'settling into a new place' period, but I have had enough," I said simply. "I'm setting these ground rules, and if they are broken outside of a serious emergency, I will kill one or both of you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," they both muttered.

"Good. Firstly, my dog is not to be experimented on."

"But-" started Kegan.

"DO NOT TOUCH MY DOG!" I yelled at her. "If you need a dog to test on, there are plenty of strays out there. Just don't tell me and don't bloody well invite me to watch while you cut out their eyeballs!"

"I thought you might enjoy watching proper science at work," said Kegan coolly. "Not that crap your kindergartner does in that lab."

"Jason has three PhD's," I said.

"Then you'd think that he'd know how to perform a proper science experiment," said Kegan simply.

"Moving on," said Angel pointedly.

"Thank you," I said. "Moving on, I don't get woken up before 9, and trust me, I am being _very_ generous here."

"Oh I know," said Angel. "I've seen you sleep for two days straight."

"Okay, don't sass me," I said, "and don't wake me up at five thirty in the morning _ever_ again."

"That was only because-"

"I don't care!" I snapped. "Just don't do it. And thirdly, and probably most importantly if you both want to see your next birthdays or deathdays or whatever, if you two don't need to talk to each other, don't! Because I always end up replacing burnt furniture and bent weapons. Not to mention I'm sick and tired of walking in on you pressing up against _my_ boyfriend."

"Jealous?" asked Kegan, tongue held between her teeth, silently begging me to deny it.

"YES! Leave him alone!" I snarled. "And while we're on the subject of you leaving my stuff alone, stop cooking my steak!"

"Sorry. I like my food medium-well," said Kegan, smirking. "Unlike you, I'm not an animal."

I growled at her and Angel was on his feet at once, a firm hand on my chest, back to Kegan.

"She wants you to do it," he muttered in my ear.

"Is there anything else, _your majesty_?" asked Kegan, getting to her feet.

I bit back my retort and her smirk broadened.

"Catch you round Wolverine," she muttered, walking away.

"Wolverine's cool!" I snapped after her.

"Not if you have a life," Kegan commented as she disappeared around a corner.

I snarled frustratedly and turned away from Angel.

"You know, I thought I liked her, but I don't. I want her gone!"

"You want me gone too," said Angel.

"Yeah," I said pointedly. "You're almost as bad as her! Just because you live here now does _not_ mean you have the right to live here!"

"Uh...?"

"You can't go around changing what's hanging on my walls or all my preset radio stations in my cars or what gets taped on my TV!" I snapped. "The least you could do is ask me first! There's no reason why I would say 'no' except that nobody in their right minds would tape reruns of Days of Our Lives."

"That is a timeless classic," Angel defended.

"You hunt demons for a living!" I pointed out frustratedly. "You're the butchest guy I know and you watch soap operas like they're going out of fashion! They were never _in_ fashion and Days of Our Lives was never, and will never, be a timeless classic! It's tear filled crap!"

"I like it," Angel muttered defensively. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would bother you."

"Well it does. And what's worse is that the stuff that you're doing doesn't bother me, it's that you don't consult me first. I'm glad you can think this place is your home, really I am, but that doesn't mean you can just do whatever you want with it."

"I'm sorry," Angel repeated sincerely, wrapping his arms around my waist. "Let me make it up to you."

"God, vampires," I muttered, turning to face him and pulling his arms off me. "I don't want you to 'make it up to me' Angel, I want you to start treating me and my house like you used to. You can't just come back here after going demon hunting and expect me to be at your beck and call. You actually got angry when I said I was too busy to get you a beer! I mean for heaven's sake Angel, this isn't the seventeen hundreds any more!"

Angel looked seriously ashamed, as he damn well should.

"Mirany I...don't know how many times I have to say I'm sorry, but I'll keep saying it until you believe I am," he said quietly. "I didn't even realise I was doing that stuff. It's just...bad habits."

"Yeah well, if_ they_ don't die soon, _you_ will," I said simply.

Angel swallowed.

...

"Okay, you win. I officially can't feel my head anymore," I groaned, splaying out on my back on the floor. "Congratulations."

"Get up," Farthington said, rolling his eyes and dropping the basketball onto my stomach. "You can do this. It's not difficult."

"I think you underestimate how hard it is to catch a ball blindfolded when you don't know where the other person is throwing from!" I snapped.

"That's why I'm here," said Angel pointedly.

"I notice you haven't helped yet," I growled.

"You weren't paying any attention at all when I told you what you were supposed to do, were you?" asked Farthington, frowning at me. "You are supposed to look through his mind. You're supposed to be able to see through his eyes."

"Well let me cut to the chase for you, okay? I can't! I suck! I always have, I always will!"

I pulled myself to my feet, pushing roughly past Farthington and out of the gym, fuming at myself more than anyone else. Farthington was right. It wasn't supposed to be difficult. Angel and I had had a psychic link for two years now. Angel had been able to look through my eyes since the moment I'd first tasted his blood. Now we had the Warrior's bond too. Surely it only got easier the stronger the bond. I should be able to do it without even thinking. But apparently I couldn't.

So absorbed in my anger, I was paying no attention to where I was going, that is, until I ran head first into Kegan.

"Shit! Sorry, I didn't mean to bowl you over," I said as I staggered away from her.

Kegan smirked.

"No problem. You were well immersed in your mutterings," she said, sounding amused. "Something about Angel being able to do things better than you. I missed the finer details though."

"No, that about sums it up," I said darkly.

"Well, I can't help you with that, but if you want to let go of some of that anger in a healthy, killing vampires kinda way, I got wind of a nest downtown that has a large collection of rare demonic artifacts," said Kegan, her eyes sparkling at the idea of causing death and destruction. That look of evil excitement on the nineteen-year-old body was plain scary. "You can come along if you'd like."

"It's the middle of the day," I pointed out.

"And therein lies out advantage," said Kegan pointedly. "Vampires tend to sleep during the day, remember? Jeez, what did your parents teach you?"

"I'm aware of that," I said coolly. "It's just that because I've been patrolling with Angel for so long I'm used to only going out at night."

"Well, that's why I'm here," said Kegan, grinning as she swung her arm around my neck and steered me in the opposite direction. "Now, let's go pick you a weapon."

...

"I can't believe you would choose a long bow over a crossbow," said Kegan.

"More control," I said simply, pulling up outside some sort of abandoned warehouse. "Why is it that vampires are always in these places on electrical tunnels? You'd think they could have a little more originality."

"Well, when you're trying to avoid bursting into flames, there aren't a lot of options," said Kegan.

_Where are you, and why are you with Kegan?_

_I'm doing my job._

_With Kegan?_

_Yes._

_What's the catch?_

_I have to kill things and let her keep the spoils._

_Spoils?_

_There are artifacts or something in there._

_Oh Mirany. This could end very badly._

_Don't watch then._

"Are you coming?"

I blinked and looked up. Kegan was already out of the car and several yards away.

"Yeah. Coming."

I jumped over my car door and grabbed my bow and a quiver of arrows from the trunk.

"Aren't you gonna take in anything?" I asked Kegan. "I have plenty of stuff in here."

Kegan's hands set a light.

"I got weapons," she said simply.

"Right," I muttered, slinging the quiver over my shoulder and hooking an arrow onto the bow. "Scary fire chick."

Kegan smirked and led the way into the warehouse. I winced as she pushed the huge metal sheet of a door to the side, every squeak and scrape magnified by ten from my paranoia at waking the vampires. If they did wake up, we'd be severely outnumbered. But someone was smiling on us, because nothing moved inside the warehouse as we slipped through the crack we'd made.

Kegan gestured me on forwards while she mounted the stairs and I continued into the darkened building. The first one I saw was hanging out of his home-made hammock, with just his hips and legs inside the material. As I got closer he moved slightly, and began to sniff a little. I pulled another arrow from my quiver and stabbed the vampire before he could wake up and alert someone that I was here. The aim of this game was kill swiftly and silently. I felt like some sort of master assassin as I slipped under the hammock and through the cloud of dust the vampire had created, hooking the other arrow onto the bow as well and pulling the string back at the ready.

I'd let my eyes change to compensate for the darkness, but they were still adjusting slightly and before I could catch myself, I bumped into a small table. A small table which, unfortunately, had glassware on it. The glass teetered for a moment before falling to the ground and smashing at my feet. Instantly, I heard the sounds of at least ten vampires, probably more, rousing at once.

"Shit!"

I saw the first three vampires coming at me from my left, and another two from my right. I lined up the arrows and loosed the string. The two shafts met their mark, hitting one on my right and one on my left. The first to dive through the dust at me was one of the two on my left. I swung at it with the bow and hit it hard over the head before chopping down on it's shoulder and pulling out another arrow, stabbing it in the back. I spun around and threw the arrow at the vampire coming at my back, hitting my mark. The last one on my left caught me off guard. As I regained my balance it swept out my feet and I face planted into the ground.

I grabbed hold of the arrow I'd just thrown, which was now lying just within my reach on the floor and slashed at it's face as it bore down on me. It hissed and recoiled. I kicked out at it's chest, sending it flying off me and into two more that were coming at me. Scrambling to my feet, I tore back towards the door and the sunlight. Only one of them was stupid enough to take the bait. Stopping just before the sunlight, I grabbed it around the neck as it went to tackle me and threw it bodily out of the warehouse, taking a moment to sadistically enjoy its yells of pain as it burnt to dust.

Stepping carefully into the doorway, framing myself in the middle of the sun's rays, I hooked an arrow into the bow and carefully took aim at the only vampire I could see with a weapon as they all skirted around nearby, trying to decide whether or not it was worth risking tackling me out of the light. Just as I was about to loose the arrow, one of them dared and I swore as the arrow soared past the vampire, flying into the darkness. Now I was in trouble. Six vampires bore down on me, all with varying looks of glee on their faces for cornering their meal. Or so they thought.

As the one that had tackled me moved in for the kill, I drew the cross hidden under my shirt out of my belt and slammed it straight into it's face. It screamed in pain as it drew away at once, a cross-shaped burn marring it's features. The rest of the vampires drew back at once. The sight of the cross didn't hurt them, but the threat of my using it scared them enough to move away. I struggled to my feet and pulled out another arrow, brandishing the cross at any that dared get closer. My bow was lying ten feet away, back in the sunlight where I'd dropped it. Wasn't going to do me much good right now.

"Alright," I muttered, spinning the arrow in my fingers. "You guys wanna play hard ball? We can play hard ball."

I flung the cross at the armed vampire and dived, taking advantage of his momentary distraction and stabbing at it, but it moved just before I could bring the arrow home and I ended up stabbing the arrow through it's side.

"Missed," he hissed.

I ducked as it swung the knife it had grabbed at my face and hit it hard in the solar plexus, kicking out behind me at the vampire that was trying to take me by surprise. Pulling out another arrow, I blocked the next knife swing and slammed the new arrow straight into the vampire's chest. Snatching the knife out of the air as it fell, I spun and tossed it right into the eye of the next brave undead. Howling in pain, it staggered away from me and I took my one opportunity as the others moved towards me and dove for my bow. Unlucky. I was a foot away from it when a vampire I hadn't even known was there whacked me right across the face with some form of brick-like object.

_Mirany!?_

Reeling and completely unable to defend myself as stars popped up in my vision, I was suddenly beyond glad that I had brought Kegan rather than Angel. Angel couldn't have dragged my attacker straight into the sun, nor could he have lit up the next one as it tried to take advantage of the stun.

"You looked like you could do with some help," Kegan commented as my vision began to clear.

"Nice timing," I said, scooping up my bow and shooting two vampires at once. "Do you know how many?"

"Eleven left," said Kegan, dodging a kick and sucker punching her attacker before lighting his head on fire and watching with sadistic amusement as he ran screaming. "Make that ten."

Whacking an approaching vampire with my bow and kneeing it in the mouth as it doubled over, I couldn't help but notice that the vampires were getting more organised.

"I think they've got a plan forming," I warned Kegan as I dusted the vampire.

"I know," she said, eyes gleaming.

I watched in curious amazement as she transformed, turning into a tall demon with red-brown skin, a cat-like face, yellow eyes and long, pointed ears. Fire flared in her hair and along glowing red lines on her skin, and ridges grew down her spine, growing into vicious looking points with the glowing red 'veins' running through them as well. She looked a fair bit more dangerous than Angel had described.

"I'd find cover if I were you," she warned me.

I took her advice at once and took off towards the other end of the warehouse, finding a large, wide metal column and slipping in behind that, holding out my foot and tripping up the vampire that followed me before shoving an arrow through it's chest.

The warehouse was suddenly lit brightly by orange light, which could mean only one thing. There was a fire, and a big one. The light died down quickly, but the heat remained. An almost unbearable heat which seared at my lungs as I breathed it in. I gave it two minutes before I came out from behind the column. Kegan was back in her human form, brushing vampire dust off her arms and legs.

"Well, that was exciting," she said brightly.

I stared around the warehouse. Anything that had been unprotected was now charred and blackened, and there were a few spot fires where material or wood had been toasted.

"What did you do?"

"Let them see what real power is," said Kegan simply.

I swallowed.

"Remind me to not get on your bad side," I said.

"And me, you," said Kegan. "You pulled some impressive moves there."

"Thanks," I muttered, taking off the quiver and counting out my arrows. I'd done fairly well considering. I still had about half my arrows left. "So, you looting the place or something? What could vampires have that's so valuable anyway?"

Kegan gestured me up the stairs.

"Come and see this."

I noticed that she limped up the stairs in front of me, and seemed to be close to exhaustion.

"You okay?"

Kegan winced.

"Not really," she muttered. "Lot of energy to do that."

"You're injured."

Kegan smiled slightly.

"It's not that bad," she said. "Just a scratch."

The demon on her jeans was blackened in one area. A rather large area. I could smell her blood, more powerful than anything I'd smelt before, and more potent, and all I could think was that it was something akin to lava.

"Will you be alright?"

Kegan frowned slightly.

"Of course I will," she grunted. "Just need it to heal, is all. I don't suppose you'd be willing to offer up a litre of your blood?"

"I'm kinda using it," I said. "Sorry."

Kegan raised an eyebrow at me and her hand lit up. I watched as she held it to the wound and slowly the smell of her blood faded away. She was healed by fire. That was new.

"There," she muttered, taking her hand away and examining her leg. "Much better. Now, valuables. There's a sheet of metal over there, move it aside."

I obeyed out of curiousity and found myself staring at an old wooden chest, something that looked like it had been built in medieval times. It looked worn, but it was still obviously very solid. The lock on it had been broken, and was serving no other purpose than keeping the lid closed now, preventing the latch from flipping upwards. Kegan's eyes sparkled at the sight of it and she crouched in front of it, rubbing her hands together greedily.

"Now, what are you hiding?" she asked quietly, tossing the lock into a corner.

I peered over her shoulder as she opened the chest, but while Kegan cackled with delight at the find, I was somewhat disappointed. There were a couple of old looking books and an ornate looking knife, but everything else in there seemed to be nothing more than horns or claws from other demons.

"I guess they hold more value if you have some clue of what they are," I commented.

"Waenork horns," said Kegan, holding up one. "Ornhaio claws, Br'tine fangs. These things have very specific magical properties. Not to mention that if you use them as a weapon they can have all sorts of colourful effects on your foes."

"So, we just dusted like, thirty vampires so that you could get your hands on a chestful of demon parts?" I asked.

Kegan held the knife up to me.

"You can have this."

"Awesome!"

I caught Kegan's smirked at how easily satiable I was, but I didn't care. I'd just come out of a fifteen to one fight with barely more than a bruise, and an awesome looking knife. I was pretty happy right about now.

_Are you okay?_

_Yes Angel, I'm fine._

_And Kegan?_

_Alive and kicking._

_Farthington's pissed off at you._

_What else is new?_

_He doesn't trust Kegan. He has good reason._

_So if I had done this with anyone else, he'd have been alright with it?_

_To a point._

_Well, you can tell him that if it wasn't for the demon, I'd be dead right now._

"Alright, this is good. I'm very happy with this," said Kegan, lifting the chest as she straightened up. "We can go."

"How did you hear about this place?" I asked.

"I keep my ear to the demon underground. On occasion, something good comes out of it," said Kegan simply. "Is the vampire pissed off?"

"Not as much as the Watcher apparently."

"Yes well, I've never found Watcher's to be particularly tolerant of any demon, good or bad," said Kegan.

"You know, I've been wondering, how did you even hear about me?" I asked.

"Well, it's very simple. I heard the words 'rich Slayer' and I immediately started digging," said Kegan.

"No you didn't."

Kegan smirked.

"No I didn't," she agreed. "I actually heard about your family from a business associate of your father's. At the time, your parents were still alive and I wasn't all too keen on the idea of standing up to two Watchers and a Slayer. Not to mention, Angel wasn't exactly happy about my poking my nose in either."

"Angel?"

"Mmm, your sister said you didn't remember," said Kegan.

"Lilah?"

"The lawyer, yeah," said Kegan. "Man, she knew how to work a deal. She couldn't have been long out of law school but she still managed to get me."

"She was evil like that," I said. "What about Angel and my not remembering?"

"England. You were...seven I think she said. Got in a fight with your dad, ran out of the house at night, got cornered by vampires. Angel rescued you. Haven't you ever wondered how he and your parents got to be friends?"

"Well, yeah but...I guess I didn't think about it that much," I said, straining my brain to remember back to when I was seven years old, but for the life of me I couldn't remember anything like it. I must have blocked it out or something.

_You and I need to talk._

_What's she told you now?_

_How you met my parents._

There was silence from Angel, accompanied with a sort of sinking feeling in my stomach that I put down to being Angel's sense of dread at the conversation I was going to force him to have with me later.

"So how'd she get you?"

"She gave me an offer that I was too quick to take up," said Kegan simply. "I don't think Angel ever trusted me per say, but when she made me give up my end of the deal...well, he's certainly never going to trust me again."

"What happened?"

Kegan frowned at me.

"You ask too many questions."

...

"You know, for the life of me, I can't remember you ever being in England," I said, sitting down beside Angel, frowning.

Angel was silent and I kicked him in the shins.

"Now it's your turn to speak," I said pointedly.

"What do you want me to say?" asked Angel.

"Well...tell me!" I said. "What happened?"

"It was late," said Angel, sitting back and frowning as he recalled the memory. "'Bout mid-November. I was about a block away from your house and I heard someone yell and then a door slam. I didn't really think much of it until I heard the scream. You were in a park nearby, and you were cornered by four vampires. I just remember thinking that you were...different. I don't really know how to describe it. You were just...there was something about the way you held yourself or something. Even though these big guys with twisted faces were two seconds away from ripping your throat out you still seemed...confident or something. I don't know. Anyway, one of them came at you and you hit them right in the groin."

Angel chuckled.

"Bravest seven year old I've ever seen," he said. "You tried to run but obviously you didn't get far. That was when I reached you. After kicking their asses all the way back to hell, I was sure you wouldn't be able to utter a word. I had no idea how I was going to get you home. You were seven, it's not as if you were going to have a phone. But you surprised me again. You told me your name, told me where you lived, told me what happened. Sure, you were a little shaken but...you were fine. It was the strangest thing. Anyway, I took you back home. Your parents were beyond relieved that you were safe, but I swear they nearly had a heart attack when I confessed that I was a vampire. But they'd kept up with their reading. I told them who I was and after a very quick spell just to check, they invited me in and your mum took you to bed while I told your dad what happened. When your mum came back down she said you wouldn't remember anything. She'd put a spell on you or something. It was a good idea at the time. It wasn't as if they could have predicted you'd be the Slayer."

"That's why I don't remember?"

"Probably. I mean, I don't actually know for sure. She didn't just come out and say 'I put a forgetting spell on her'. But she seemed pretty sure you wouldn't remember so I guess so."

"Why didn't you tell me this when we met?" I asked.

"Would you have believed me?" asked Angel pointedly.

"Guess not," I muttered.

"I can show you, if you want," Angel offered, but I shook my head, getting to my feet to get a beer.

"I can take your word for it," I said. "I don't need to check."

"I would have told you," said Angel sincerely, "if I thought it would have helped. Or if you had asked how I met your parents. I just didn't think it really bothered you."

"It didn't," I said. "But it did bother me that Kegan knew what happened before I did."

Angel winced.

"That wasn't my fault," he said.

"No. I can blame my sister for that," I muttered.

"Don't you blame her for anything that goes badly?"

"No. Generally I blame you," I said casually, handing him a bottle as I sat down again.

...

"Alright. Let's get this over with," I muttered, pulling on the blindfold. I was exhausted. I just wanted Farthington to leave. I'd been beaten by his stick, cut by his sword and almost speared by his crossbow, and now I had to do this stupid exercise again. Not to mention, Angel had woken me up before nine. So far, Kegan was following my rules better than he was. I had expected it to be the other way around.

"Concentrate," said Farthington.

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I had to empty my mind, then I had to focus on Angel's. I couldn't decide which was harder. But when I was just about to give up, suddenly I could see. I could myself standing in the middle of the gym, and I could see Farthington throwing the ball to my right. I watched, completely amazed at this weird new way of seeing, as my body threw up it's hands to catch the ball, then, just as suddenly as it had come, my vision was gone, and I was thrown back into black, only now I had a ball in my arms.

"I did it," I said, pulling off the blindfold. "Man that was weird."

"You get used to it," said Angel, smirking.

"I thought I would have to hit my head against all your mind walls again," I said. The last time I remembered trying to get into Angel's head, I had had the unpleasant experience of slamming my head against a brick wall several times as I tried to access his memories. That had been just before we'd taken the Warrior's oath.

Angel chuckled.

"I told you it's much easier to do now."

Farthington looked pleased.

"Good job," he said. "I think we're done for the day."

"Oh thank God," I breathed, collapsing on the floor. "Goodbye."

"I'll be back tomorrow," Farthington warned.

"I know. And I'll have my thinking brain on," I said dully. Farthington had decided we would alternate between physical and theoretical training. I was sick to death of listening to his history of Slayers, but at least I didn't have to work too hard in or theory sessions. "Goodbye!"

Farthington left the gym, but before the door could close, Maia came running in, yelping. I sat up at once. She was covered in soot.

"KEGAN!" I yelled at the top of my lungs as Maia tried to fit herself inside me in an attempt to hide. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"


	59. A Rose by Any Other Name

"Well, look what the cat dragged in," Wesley muttered as I walked into the hotel. "What brings Her Majesty to the ugly side of LA?"

I smirked at him.

"Pretty sure you're supposed to kneel before you address me."

"Yeah, so's your warrior," said Angel, coming out of his office, "and look how that turned out."

I scowled at his back as he walked up the stairs.

"You're lucky I'm not here to see you!" I called after him. "Otherwise you would be in a world of hurt!"

I heard Angel's chuckle as he disappeared.

"Who _are_ you here to see then?" asked Wesley.

"Connor," I said. "I'm giving his car a tweaking, and he needs a lift to uni in the meantime."

"Mirany! You're early," said Connor, coming down the stairs. "I didn't actually expect you to be here for another half an hour."

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"Well...yeah," said Connor, frowning in a confused way. "Of course I am."

"Then you didn't expect me to be late," I said simply, grinning at him.

Wesley jumped to his feet and dashed into his office, balancing about ten books in his arms. I raised an eyebrow as the door slammed behind him.

"What's up with him?"

"He's busy translating some scroll or something," said Connor, shrugging. "Every time he thinks he's got something, he dives into his office and locks himself there."

I sniggered.

"That man's gotta get a life," I said.

"Excuse me?"

I started and turned. A young man stood in the doorway of the hotel, wearing a green t-shirt with a flowery insignia.

"Are you...Cordelia Chase?" he asked, reading from a small card attached to a single blue rose. Blue? Well, I guess you could make a flower any colour you wanted.

"What? Me? No," I snorted. "Do I look like the brunette version of Barbie?"

"Uh...I have a delivery for her," said the guy, somewhat stupidly.

"I'll take it," said Connor, stepping up to the door. "I'll let her know, thanks."

"I was supposed to deliver it straight to her..."

"She's gone to the mall," said Connor. "She probably won't be back for a while. I'll just leave it in some water here. I'd hate to inconvenience you."

The guy looked unsure, but he obviously had plenty of other deliveries, so he didn't argue.

"Alright then," he said, handing the rose to Connor. "Careful, there are still thorns."

I frowned as he left.

"Who sends a rose that still has thorns on it?" I asked.

"Ah! I don't know, but man, there are a lot of them," Connor muttered, gingerly exchanging the rose between hands and scowling at three little pinpricks of blood on his fingers. "Someone must either really hate Cordelia, or just completely forgot to cut them off."

"Oh, give it here. I'm a girl, I'm supposed to hold roses," I said, taking it from him. "Who grows blue roses?"

The rose did have an awful lot of thorns, and they weren't just tiny ones, they were quite large and vicious looking.

"And on a similar note, who grows a rose that looks like it's gonna come alive and eat you?" I muttered. "Ah well, none of my business I guess."

As I placed the rose in a glass of water, I managed to nick myself on one of the thorns as well. Surprisingly enough, the tiny prick actually stung quite badly.

"Ow," I whined. "Damn it."

"Supposed to hold roses huh?" asked Connor.

"Oh shut up," I muttered.

To my surprise, Connor actually did shut up.

"Connor?" I asked, turning around just in time to see him collapse. "Connor!"

I made my way towards him, but before I could reach him, I felt myself become very dizzy. The rose. I staggered back to it, attempting to grab it, but instead it fell to the floor, the glass it was in shattering to pieces.

_M...Mirany? What-?_

If Angel had said anything after that, I didn't hear. Swooning, I felt my legs give out as the lights went black.

...

"ANGEL, I'M BACK!" I yelled as I walked into the hotel, searching in my bag for the herbs the vampire wanted. "You have no _idea_ how busy it gets at that mall! I actually had to wait in line! Can you imagine? Me! In line! Don't they know their faithful customers when they see them?"

There was no response, and I rolled my eyes as I managed to find the herbs.

_Typical. Nobody cares, despite my being way more useful around here than anyone else._

I looked up as I dropped the herbs on the bench and froze. Mirany and Connor were lying on the floor. Mirany was closer, and beside her was a blue rose, with a long stem covered in sharp thorns, glass and water around it.

"Mirany?"

_Oh great. Because this was exactly what I needed today._

While it was unexpected to see the two young adults unconscious on the floor of the hotel, what was more bemusing was that Angel wasn't there, fussing over his son and lover. And speaking of his son, while Mirany might have looked bad, Connor looked a hell of a lot more pale and sickly than she did.

"What on Earth? Angel?" I called.

There was no response. I moved carefully around the two and banged on Angel's office door. No response.

"Cordelia, would you keep it down please? I'm trying to- what happened here?"

I stared at Wesley as he came out of his office.

"You were here the whole time and you didn't notice the two unconscious hormone storage containers?" I asked indignantly.

"W-well, I've been very busy," Wesley muttered, bending over Connor. "Where's Angel?"

"I don't know," I said worriedly, moving over to the stairs. "Angel?"

I hurried up them and down the hallway, until I found Angel a couple of paces away from his 'gym', unconscious like the others.

"Wesley! I think we've got ourselves a problem!"

...

"What are we gonna do?" I asked. "We have no muscle, no idea what happened, and no way of knowing if it's going to get better."

"Well, I think it's pretty safe to assume that it's not going to get better," said Wesley blandly.

I glared at him.

"Wesley, we have no Angel!"

"Cordelia, we'll figure it out. Angel would never get anything done without our help anyway. We can do this without him."

"Yeah, till it comes to knocking heads," I muttered.

"Okay, Cordelia, calm down. Let's think this through logically. They were alive and well at ten when Mirany came. Something happened between then and twelve."

"Two- you didn't notice, for two hours?" I hissed.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I was busy."

Connor groaned slightly and tossed a bit. He was sweating bullets now, and he looked even paler. I took up a damp cloth and placed it gently on his forehead.

"He's getting worse."

Wesley frowned.

"What I want to know is why he's worse off than those two," he said, gesturing at Mirany and Angel, who both looked clammy and sickly, but not to the same extent as Connor.

"Okay, we have to figure this out," I said. "Aside from the fact that they were all you know...unconscious, what was odd?"

"The fact that Mirany was going to be nice and help someone other than herself?" Wesley guessed.

I frowned, then blinked, an idea forming. We did still have someone who could muscle through doors if we needed them too. And she had definitely had a fair bit of life experience in the world of the supernatural.

"Wait. Mirany's been nice to people other than herself," I said. "Kegan."

"I am not calling that demon."

"We have no choice. She might know what this is."

"We can figure this out without her!" Wesley snapped.

"Wesley, even if we manage to figure it out, not only might it be too late, but even if it's not, we just don't have the manpower without someone else. If all three of them get really bad, the two of us are going to need to be here to do what we can for them."

Wesley scowled.

"What about Farthington?"

"You hate him more than Kegan!" I said indignantly.

"And you hate Kegan more than him," said Wesley. "I say we call someone with knowledge and expertise if we're going to call anyone. Edward has seen far more than most."

"Kegan is older than Angel," I pointed out. "She's seen more than her share."

"Fine. You call Kegan, I'll call Edward. If we're not going to figure this out alone, we might as well have as much help as possible."

...

"_You want me to what?"_

"Kegan please. We need you."

"_Oh you need me do you? What's in it for me?"_

"Both Mirany and Angel will owe you."

"_They already owe me."_

"Kegan. Connor could die."

"_Well you should have said so. I like the boy. Will he owe me?"_

"He's like 300 years younger than you," I said, scowling. "And you're probably not his type."

"_It's not how old you are, but old you look,"_ said Kegan, chuckling somewhat evilly. _"I'll be right over Paris."_

I huffed as she hung up. I was sure she'd be able to help, but I didn't like that I had to interact with her for her to help. Connor seemed to mumble or gasp maybe, as if he was having a bad dream. I unbuttoned his shirt, trying to keep him cool.

_God, what happened to you?_

...

"Are you insane? Bringing her here to _help_? What help do you think a demon's going to give?" Farthington growled.

"We needed her," I defended.

"Like we needed the plague," Wesley muttered under his breath.

"And besides, my boy's in trouble. I'll always help him," said Kegan, smirking as she bent over Connor. "Oh god. What did you give him?"

"We didn't give him anything," said Wesley defensively.

"No," Kegan muttered distractedly, "but something did..."

She stared around the room, and her eyes fixed immediately on the rose.

"Where did that come from?"

"How on Earth did a Bluebottle Thorn get here?" Farthington snapped at Wesley and me.

"Hey, don't look at us," I said, throwing up my hands in surrender. "I wasn't here. Maybe if Wes hadn't had his nose stuck in his books, he might have seen."

"You were here?" asked Farthington.

"Edward, I understand that you don't consider me an equal, but we are," said Wesley venomously. "Do not talk down to me. You know perfectly well how easy it is to get bogged down in translations."

I raise my eyebrows. I'd never seen Wesley stand up to anyone before. The Watcher was growing up. Farthington scowled.

"I was in my office. I didn't see anything," said Wesley simply. "I heard glass breaking, but that's not exactly an odd occurrence around here so I put it aside."

"Lucky you did," said Kegan, carefully picking up the rose by one of the petals. "One prick from this thing and you'll be gone in 48 hours. Mirany and Angel, they only seem to have one dose. Mirany probably got herself pricked, Angel feels the effects too. Does anyone want this?"

"There would be little point in keeping it," said Farthington. "We can't extract a cure from the thing that poisoned them."

Kegan smiled grimly and a second later the rose went up in flames.

"Okay, so somehow, this rose got here," I said.

"A Bluebottle Thorn," said Wesley. "One of nature's most toxic killers."

"And you didn't notice this because?" I asked.

"I was too busy dragging them all into some sort of comfortable position while you yelled at me," said Wesley coolly.

"Anyway," said Kegan loudly, rolling her eyes. "The real question is who got it here, and who was it for?"

"Well, Mirany," said Farthington, as if it was obvious. "She is the Slayer. Witches or sorcerers would most definitely use a method like this to poison her."

"Unlikely," said Wesley. "Well, the method is likely, but that it's Mirany...why wouldn't the rose be at her place?"

"Good point," said Kegan. "Score one for the _ex_-Watcher."

She smirked at Farthington, who scowled back.

"Connor has a bigger dose of the poison," I said. "Maybe someone wanted him to have it."

"Who sends roses to a guy?" Kegan pointed out. "Too weird, alarm bells."

"Well it certainly wasn't me," said Wesley. "Or Angel. Which leaves..."

He stared at me.

"...You."

Kegan snorted then immediately tried to cover it up.

"Hey! I can be on somebody's death list!" I snapped.

"That's...not a good thing," Farthington muttered.

"Who would want to kill you? Why?" asked Kegan.

"Because they met her," Wesley suggested.

I slowly turned to glare at him.

"Did I say that out loud?" he asked.

Kegan chuckled.

"To send a message," said Farthington. "To someone else. Whether it be Angel or Mirany."

"Reasonable," said Kegan. "What's the message?"

I raised my eyebrows at her. She frowned.

"They can kill," she muttered. "Probably shoulda guessed that before I spoke. How did Barbie get that before me?"

"I'm not-!" I started, but I stopped myself before I could retaliate. Now was not the time to fight. "Look, we need to fix this. How do we make them better?"

"We need to find the plant," said Wesley. "There'll be one flower that won't be blue. Its thorns revive."

"How in hell do you plan to find a single plant?" I asked.

"By starting with the place that delivered it," said Kegan, waving a small tag that seemed to have fallen under the counter.

"Well, whatever you do, do it quickly," I said, sitting down next to Connor and squeezing a damp cloth over his lips. "I don't think he's gonna last 48 hours."

"Probably got pricked more than once," Kegan muttered. "Alright. I'll go knock heads."

"I'll come with you," said Wesley.

Kegan snorted.

"You will not."

"I don't trust you enough to not try to milk something else out of us for this," said Wesley coldly. "So excuse me if I want to come with you just to make sure."

Kegan shrugged.

"Whatever. Just don't get in the way."

"Come Cordelia. There are ways to make them more comfortable," said Farthington. "We should be able to at least slow down the advance of the poison."

...

I didn't want the Watcher to come with me, but I wasn't about to force him not to. If he didn't trust me, he didn't trust me. It didn't really bother me that much. The moment I walked into the flower shop, I caught a whiff of the unmistakable scent of blood. And a lot of it. Someone in here wasn't human, and they certainly weren't friendly. I paused near the doorway as Wesley walked in.

"Be very careful," I warned quietly, so that the young store clerk couldn't hear me. Or at least, he couldn't hear me as long as he was either human, or a creature that didn't rely on hearing. "Demons."

Wesley frowned and nodded, eying the clerk.

"Let me handle this one," I said, smirking. "I have an idea of how to get through to this kid."

Wesley hung back as I moved up to the young man. Through the scent of the millions of flowers in the store, I hadn't noticed his own unique smell, but now I did.

_Hmm, new plan._

"Thurbarr," I said. "I haven't seen many of your kinda in areas like LA before."

The boy was jumpy, no surprise there. The moment I'd identified his race, he changed his form. He was humanoid, but his face was mouse-like. He was covered in fur, and a long, bare tail could be seen between his clothes. His teeth were bucked, and he had somewhat of a snout, but for the most part, his features remained human in shape.

"You're usually either in smaller towns, or in the country," I commented.

"H-how can I help you?" he muttered.

I changed into my form and he gave off an audible squeak.

"What do you want?" he squealed.

"I'm looking for a plant. A very specific plant."

...

"Who ordered for the flower to be delivered?" asked Wesley.

"A-a woman," stuttered the clerk.

"Little more specific Stuart," I said pointedly. I didn't know if that was his name or not, but I think he got the reference when he quivered in fear. He was a mouse, I was a cat.

"T-tall, curly hair, long, light brown. Pretty eyes. Look, I swear I didn't do anything but deliver the order! I didn't know it was poisonous!"

"Don't think us daft Stuart. You're a Thurbarr. Your kind was the first to discover its properties without killing yourselves," said Wesley.

"I- I- I-" The clerk was really having some difficulty forming any comprehensible words now.

"You get a name?" I asked.

"Um...i-it should be in the books," the clerk muttered, shuffling through some papers underneath the counter. "Something about forests or trees or something."

"Why are you even dealing with Bluebottle Thorns?" asked Wesley.

"Uh...we generally don't."

"What?" I asked. "How can you deliver something you don't grow?"

"The woman brought it," said the clerk, appearing again with a ledger in his hands. "Uh...here. Overwood. That's right. S. Overwood."

Wesley stared at me in shock.

"She's Toni's mother," he said. "Angel was talking about it."

"Yeah, I've seen Mirany talk to her," I muttered. "Well, thank you for your time Stuart. Stay sharp."

"I- I will," the boy muttered.

As the Watcher and I walked away, I noticed him scurry into the back of the store, tail still quivering.

"What's a business woman doing with a Bluebottle Thorn?" Wesley asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Mirany's a business woman. She owns Excalibur."

"Touche."

...

"It's okay Connor. We're going to make you better," I told the tossing man, sponging some more water on his forehead. "Wesley and Kegan are finding a cure as we speak."

Farthington passed me a small bottle of an oil-like substance he had pulled from Wesley's office.

"Put some of this on his hand," he said, gesturing at Connor's hand, were three angry welts had appeared. "Those will be seeping more poison into his bloodstream. This can help."

I did as he said, rubbing the oils into his skin carefully.

"How did you get into all this...watcher stuff?" I asked.

Farthington looked up at me as he smoothed some of the oils into Mirany's hand.

"Mirany's grandparents, on her father's side," he said. "I was very young, just out of school, and they approached me, saying they were looking for someone as dedicated to my work and as skilled as myself. They taught me everything they knew, and I helped her parents when they joined."

"So it's like some sort of secret club? You gotta know someone to get in?"

Farthington chuckled.

"Something like that," he muttered.

"How did Mirany's family get in?"

The Watcher paused at this, but obviously decided it wasn't all that much of a secret.

"Her father's sister was a Slayer," he said. "A very young Slayer. She didn't last very long. They joined to try and help prevent that from happening to others."

"Oh. So it's not just her that's been through losses. Her whole family's had...it's like they're cursed."

"It's not all doom and gloom," said Farthington quietly. "They suffered great losses, yes, but if they hadn't they wouldn't have worked so hard, wouldn't have become such great Watchers. If they hadn't, Mirany might not be alive. So it was worth it."

_Mirany might not live much longer anyway._

...

"Rich people and their mansions," Wesley muttered. "Honestly, what is wrong with a nice quiet little abode?"

"The fact that it screams crazy cat lady or tea and crumpets?" I guessed.

The Watcher scowled and rang at the door.

"_Yes?"_ asked an irritated female voice.

"Are you Ms. Overwood?" asked Wesley politely. I rolled my eyes.

"We're here to punch the woman in the face, there's no need to be so English," I muttered under my breath, but Wesley ignored me.

"_Who wants to know?"_

"Okay, listen up Bitch of the Year, we have an almost dead vampireling, an almost dead Slayer, and an almost permanently dead vampire. We know you sent the Bluebottle Thorn. Unfortunately, it didn't quite reach it's intended recipient. Now, unless you want me to torch this whole building, open the door and show us the plant. Now."

Wesley stared at me in horror.

"You can't tell her things like that!" he hissed.

There was silence for a few seconds from the intercom, before we heard a lock click and the door opened. Saria Overwood stood in the doorway, looking very smug.

"You must be Mirany's friend Cordelia," she said.

I glared at her.

"I'm worse than that Prom Queen from Hell," I said dangerously. "Where's the Bluebottle?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean. I'm sorry, I don't think I've had the pleasure."

She held out a hand to Wesley, but I slapped her aside before he could take it.

"None of this crap Overwood. Mirany dies and your girl is gonna feel the consequences."

Saria scoffed.

"What are you gonna do? Slice her throat with your silver tongue?" she asked. "So, Mirany's the Slayer is she? I had wondered. I knew Angel, who doesn't know of the vampire with a soul. And did you say vampireling?"

"Ms. Overwood," Wesley started, "we are here so that we can put this mistake right. If you give us the flower-"

"You'll tell your Slayer who inadvertedly tried to kill her."

_She's scared of her._

"Who said Mirany had to know?" I asked. "Neither of us enjoy talking to her. We could say it was the kid at the store and this would never come back to you."

She didn't seem to be very convinced.

"How do I know you're not lying?"

I pulled a pen out of her breast pocket.

"We'll make you a deal. Flower, thorns included, for our silence."

...

"What if she gave you the wrong plant?" Cordelia asked as I knelt down beside Connor.

"Trust me, she gave us the right plant," I said, frowning at the cut in my arm. "We made a pretty hard deal to break."

"What did you get from this deal?" Farthington growled at Kegan.

"My boy's eternal gratitude," she said smoothly, brushing Connor's sweaty fringe aside as I pricked him with the white rose. "And you can't tell me the age gap is creepy. You're fine with the two blood suckers here."

"Don't think we didn't complain," I said darkly. "We just couldn't do much about it."

The welts on Connor's hand retracted in seconds, and his colour quickly returned.

"It worked," Cordelia breathed.

I moved over to Mirany and pricked her with one of the thorns as well.

"They should be fine within the hour," said Farthington. "Perhaps we shouldn't crowd them."

...

"I know you made a deal, but I also know you wouldn't be stupid enough to make a deal you couldn't get out of," I said to Kegan, skirting around the fire pit in the middle of the room to sit on the counter nearby. This demon was killing my house.

"Me? Make a deal? What are you talking about?" asked Kegan innocently. "I told you, the flower shop boy did it."

"And that demon got what he deserved when I found the bodies in the back of the store," I said, "but there were no blue roses there."

"Must have covered up his tracks," said Kegan simply.

I scowled at her.

"What was it? A vow of silence? You don't have to talk to tell me who done it. I know perfectly well you wouldn't have just sworn up and down never to tell me through any form of communication."

Kegan smirked at me, standing up and moving out of her fire pit.

"Very clever Slayer," she muttered. "Very clever."

She picked up a business card from a pile of scrap paper and twigs she was obviously going to burn later.

"I can't tell you who sent that rose, but I can tell you, you won't be very happy about it."

She placed the business card in my hand, curling my fingers over the name.

"I think this person is playing a far bigger game than you had originally intended," she said, pulling me off the counter and leading me back towards the door, straight through the fire pit. I flinched, expecting the coals and flames to burn at my feet and legs, but Kegan's touch made them a pleasant warm feeling. "In fact, you might find they know more about you than you might think."

"Don't they always?" I asked.

Kegan winked at me as she opened the door.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," she said, closing the wood in my face.

"Cryptic little so and so," I muttered, turning the car over and glancing at the name. "Oh god."

...

_Lilah,_

_Did you ever actually meet Saria Overwood? She tried to send me a message today. A bad one. She knows who I am or...what I am. I'm scared for Toni. Knowing that she knows takes this battle to a whole new level. And...I think Toni will be caught in between._

_I thought our battle was going to be business. Something the real world could look at and understand. But now it's different. It's personal. She didn't try to kill me, but she almost did. She wants me to back off. I don't know how much. I guess from Toni, from her, from her business, her share holders._

_But I know one thing. There is no way in hell that I'm about to back off._

_I'll update you when I can._

_Mirany._


	60. Deals With Devils

**_"We're all flawed heroes. Responsibility is power. Take responsibility for the consequences of your actions and the world is yours. Everything is a choice." - Tom Hiddleston_**

* * *

"You want me to come to a business meeting?" I asked slowly.

"Yes."

"...Why?"

"Why does there always have to be a reason with you?" asked Mirany. "Can't you just enjoy the fact that you get to dress up in real man clothes for once and enjoy a free meal?"

"I don't eat, and putting on a suit does not make you a real man," I said, scowling.

"You do so eat!" Mirany objected. "You just don't need to."

"Look, Mirany, I appreciate the offer, but I thought you wanted to keep me _away_ from your business mates," I said.

"I think you're being a very oblivious Warrior. What if there's some crazy man there with a gun?" Mirany asked. "If they killed me it would officially be your fault because you weren't there to stop them."

I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, because you have absolutely no powers with which you might be able to stop him," I said sarcastically. "You've never asked me to one of these corporate meetings before, why now?"

Mirany bit her lip.

"Because I love you and I can't stand being away from you?" she tried.

"Try again," I said. "Why am I coming?"

"So you will come then?"

"Mirany."

"Because the majority of people there will be from Wolfram and Hart," Mirany confessed.

"Oh, I see. So you don't just want me there for moral support, you want me there because you're _insane_," I hissed. "You honestly think I'm going to let you walk into a boardroom full of Wolfram and Hart assassins?"

"Uh, lawyers, not assassins. Not this time anyway," Mirany muttered. "But see, that's exactly why I need you to come with me."

She put on her most innocent, vulnerable face.

"After all, I'm gonna need protection," she said in a small voice.

I scowled.

"Yes, fine, I'll come," I caved. "On the condition that if it goes south, I get to say 'I told you so'."

"Deal," said Mirany at once, returning to her over-confident self. "Oh, and Saria might make an appearance."

"Mirany for god's sake!" I objected.

"What? I can't say no! They're trying to get a hold of my assets! I have to go! I have to tell them to bugger off!"

"So you're going to walk into a room full of people who want to kill you, eat their food, drink their water, and then give them the finger?" I asked. "Well, that sounds like a very reasonable plan that definitely won't make you any more enemies and certainly won't get you killed."

"I sense you don't approve," said Mirany.

"Yeah. You're psychic like that."

"Well, I don't care, I'm going. And I know you're going too, whether you like the plan or not because you want to be there to say 'I told you so' when someone stabs me with a butter knife."

"Is that a likely scenario?"

Mirany rolled her eyes and shoved a coat bag into my hands.

"Put it on," she ordered.

...

"Well, well, well, guess who decided to show up after all," said Saria snidely as Angel and I walked in. "We thought this was going to be a cake walk. Well..."

She glanced around at the fifteen or so other people in the room.

"...it still might be."

"Lovely to see you too Saria. Oh, by the way, Cordelia's doing great and she says thank you so much for the lovely rose you sent her," I said coolly.

Saria's features twisted into a sort of angrily terrified look, which I ignored as I walked into the room.

_That was not a good move._

_I don't think any move I make against Saria now is going to be taken all that well._

"Mirany Hunter. I don't suppose you'll make it easy for us and sign the papers right now, will you?"

I turned and scowled at Lindsay McDonald. I hadn't seen him since...well, I hadn't seen him in a while, but he still looked like a school boy in among all these middle aged people. Now that I thought about it, I probably looked somewhat similar in a way.

"I would but uh...my signing hand is not what it used to be," I said. "It pretty much only does this now."

I flipped him off and he chuckled.

"Well, glad to see a bit of the Slayer sass is still there," he said. "Shame it's not gonna last though."

"What are you doing here?" Angel asked.

_I thought I told you that you were the silent bodyguard for the day._

_I get bored easily._

"I'm here on behalf of Wolfram and Hart. As are many people," said Lindsay smoothly. "We are backing Ms. Overwood in her attempt to come to some sort of settlement with Miss Hunter."

"Don't call me that," I muttered.

"So...you're her lawyers? All of you?"

"Yes. And we are here to support our client through any abuse she may receive from your delinquent heiress."

"Oh please, she almost killed me two weeks ago," I snapped. "And you think I'm abusing her?"

"We think nothing," said Lindsay, looking very smug. "Uh, could I have a quick word with you in private? It doesn't relate to this."

Angel took hold of my shoulder as Lindsay placed a very careful hand on my arm.

"I promise you, no harm will fall to her. I just want to run something by her," said Lindsay, steering me away from Angel and out into the corridor I had just come through.

"What do you want?" I growled.

"To make a deal," said Lindsay, somewhat urgently.

"Oh for fuck's sake Ronald McDonald, I'm not just going to sign over half of my company because she lost a few shareholders," I spat.

"I've already told you, this is a different matter," said Lindsay.

I frowned.

"I'm listening."

"Wolfram and Hart are getting a very special delivery brought in next week. I happen to know Angel intends to disrupt our plans and intercept the package before we can receive it."

"Not only is that none of my business, but even if it were, I would like to assume that if Angel is going to get involved, whatever you're bringing in is nothing good," I said pointedly.

"You're right, that is none of your business," said Lindsay. I scowled. "Now, it is of somewhat vital importance to me that Wolfram and Hart receive this package, which is why I'm going to offer you a deal that will mean just as much."

"What could you possibly have to offer me besides the downfall of your evil law firm?" I asked.

"Lilah."

My jaw set.

"Lilah's gone," I grunted.

"No one is ever really gone Mirany. I can arrange for her to be brought back, exactly the way she was. No rotting zombies, no living skeletons, no having to take someone else's life. Lilah. Living and breathing. Alive again. You do this for me and you'll come home and find Lilah sitting in your living room."

"And all you want is for me to stop Angel from intercepting this package?" I asked. I could have Lilah back. I could have my sister back. Was it really possible?

Lindsay nodded.

"Must be one hell of a package," I commented. "I will make you your deal, _if_ you let me see what the package is. It's all very well and good to bring Lilah back but if your package is the ingredients you need to eradicate all human life then there's not that much point, is there?"

"Very true," said Lindsay. He was smiling in a way I really didn't like. "Alright, I accept your clause."

He pulled a sheet of paper from his folder and an empty fountain pen.

"I do believe some of your friends recently made an oath in the same way," he said, eyes twinkling with malice now as he wrote in my demand. "Unfortunately, I think you'll find this contract has a few less loopholes."

I read through every word, making sure this was actually possible. Once I'd read it, I went over it again, and again. Lindsay was patient. Almost too patient. His signature was already on the bottom of the page, in a dull red colour. Eventually I was satisfied that this was it. All I had to do was stop Angel from intercepting a package for Wolfram and Hart in exactly one week's time. I do that...and I get my sister back. The sharp tip of the pen bit at my skin as I pressed it to my arm, letting the pen take up a trickle of blood before signing my name. Lindsay carefully took back the contract.

"Pleasure doing business with you. Now, shall we go be rivals?"

...

"Angel? Can I talk to you?"

Angel looked up and smiled at me as he removed the suit.

"Course. Though if you're going to ask me to go on another business meeting, you're going to be disappointed. Well done by the way."

"Thank you," I muttered. "Uh, have you got a job at the moment?"

Angel looked confused.

"I'm working on something, yeah," he said. "Why?"

"It's about Wolfram and Hart, isn't it?"

Angel straightened up, frowning at me.

"What deal did you make with Lindsay?"

I bit my lip.

"You would have done the same," I said. "If...you would have."

"Mirany, what did you do?"

"I- I said I'd stop you," I said.

"Why?"

"Because he said they'd bring Lilah back," I said quietly.

"Mirany you can't bring people back from the dead without some consequence!" Angel snapped.

"I read through the forms, I made sure!" I objected.

"You signed something? You made an actual deal?" Angel hissed. "Mirany there are always loopholes! There's always something for them to exploit! There will be consequences! Even if they bring Lilah back! And I'm not going to let you bear those consequences. So no, I am not going to stop, before you ask. I am not going to let you use your selfishness to let Wolfram and Hart win. I'm sorry."

"Angel-!"

Angel pushed past me and stomped away, down the corridor and out of sight. I sighed.

"Problems?" asked Kegan, scaring the crap out of me as she popped up on the other side of the door.

"Jesus Kegan! Don't you know how to knock?" I snapped.

"Not really," she said, shrugging. "So, what can I help you with?"

"Nothing," I muttered, flopping down on the bed. "He's right, I'm being selfish."

Kegan climbed onto the bed and sat cross legged over me.

"So?" she asked. "You're human. At least a little. You're not allowed to be selfish?"

"I'm the Slayer," I said, scowling. "I'm not allowed to be selfish if there's evil afoot."

"Ah pfft," Kegan said, waving my words away. "So Wolfram and Hart might get what they want this time. They always get what they want. In the end."

"They wanted to destroy LA," I pointed out. "They didn't get that."

"Yes well, I think you'll find that even if you hadn't stopped sister dearest, LA still might not have been blown to smithereens."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"It means I liked my place too much to want to think about moving somewhere different," said Kegan nonchalantly.

"You built the bombs?" I asked incredulously.

"Hey, I'm not just a pretty face," said Kegan, smirking at me. "So, I'll ask again, what can I help you with?"

I bit my lip, considering her.

"Why do you want to help?" I asked.

"Three reasons," said Kegan, holding up three fingers. "One, you'll actually be doing something for yourself for a change, as opposed to doing the whole 'I'm a Slayer, I can't have nice things' act. Two, Angel's reaction will be stunning. And three, I wanna see how badly Wolfram and Hart screw you over when you find out what the twist is."

"You're so kind," I muttered sarcastically.

"Just one question. How do you intend to keep Angel from finding out?" asked Kegan.

I winced. That could be an issue.

"Well...I guess I don't have to tell him the whole truth," I said slowly. "He'd know immediately if I was lying, but if I just didn't tell him my exact plans, he wouldn't know."

"How do you intend to stop him from digging around in your head?" asked Kegan.

I frowned.

"Farthington and Angel both wanted me to start learning to block him. You know, in case he ever turns grrrr again. But uh...I've only been able to do it twice."

"Well, if ever there were a chance to learn," Kegan sighed. "Alright, tell you what. To make your job easier, I'm going to agree to help you, but I'm not going to tell you how. Not until you need to know. That way, you have deniability, and if you don't manage to block him, he still only knows that I'm helping. Since he can't worm his way into my head, that will leave him in the dark."

"Thank you," I said, a little confused as to why she was being so supportive, but grateful none the less. Although now that I knew she was prone to helping Wolfram and Hart out on occasion...perhaps it was best to remain just a little suspicious.

"No problem pup," said Kegan, smirking as she hoped off the bed. "Stay fluffy."

"Well I try," I muttered as she left.

...

"You're really going to go through with it?" Angel questioned. "You're going to try to stop me?"

I looked up from the magazine Cordelia was shoving in my face.

"Yes," I said simply.

Angel shook his head.

"You're insane," he said. "You don't even know how I'm going to-"

"You're going to wait until sundown, and then set up an ambush point approximately 5 miles from Wolfram and Hart, giving them enough time to send a distress signal, but not enough time for Wolfram and Hart to act before you've already buggered off with whatever it is that they're receiving," I reeled off. "What are they receiving, by the way?"

Angel looked a little stunned.

"I don't know," he muttered eventually.

I shrugged.

"Well, either way, one of us is going to find out," I said. "I made Lindsay promise to show me."

"Oh good, so he's going to get you alone at Wolfram and Hart while he unveils his secret weapons of Slayer destruction," Angel muttered sarcastically. "That's just fantastic."

"Hey! My _duty,_ as you and the Watchers like to call it, is to slay the evil demon things, which, by the way, you should be grateful I haven't done to you yet," I snapped. "And might I remind you that it's _your_ code that's stopping me from killing humans. So sorry if Lindsay works for an evil law firm, but I can't kill a building. And your rules dictate I side with the humans, whether I like it or not."

"Lawyers are a special breed of demon," Cordelia muttered.

"And yet, they have souls and heart beats none the less," I said. "So don't go getting all huffy at me big guy. _You're_ the one that brought this on."

Angel sighed.

"It's like talking to a brick wall," he hissed to Cordelia.

"Only a brick wall doesn't logic you back," Cordelia pointed out.

Grumbling, Angel returned to his office.

"You're an idiot," Cordelia hissed. "Firstly, Wolfram and Hart? Really? They're not the good guys Mirany."

"No one said the Slayer was supposed to the the good guy either," I muttered darkly.

"Hey, if Wolfram and Hart's trying to kill you, that gives you a tick in the good guy box to me," Cordelia pointed out. "Anyway, putting aside the Wolfram and Hart crap, because I can see there's no twisting your judgement there, are you seriously going to go head to head with Angel?"

"He's my Warrior, he can't touch me," I said confidently.

"No, he's your Warrior, he can't kill you," Cordelia clarified. "There's nothing stopping him from doing anything less though."

I swallowed.

"Well...Kegan's with me on this. She'll...help," I said.

"Oh, and the fact that the killer demon is with you on this doesn't ring alarm bells for you?" asked Cordelia. "No? Okay then."

"It's one time!" I said. "It's not the end of the world!"

"No, it's the first time," said Cordelia. "Wolfram and Hart are going to know they can exploit you now. This will not be the last time."

I frowned.

"I'm not exploitable," I said defensively. "This is a very special occasion."

"Because of Lilah. You don't think next time they'll use someone else you love? Your parents? Your brother? Angel? Connor? You didn't just make a one of deal with Lindsay, you gave him an in."

"I- I- he said-"

"I know. He's gonna bring Lilah back for you. 'No strings'. There are always strings Mirany."

"I don't care!"

Cordelia looked shocked at my outburst.

"You all treat me and talk to me and think of me as if I'm forty! I'm twenty-one! So excuse me if I'm selfish! Excuse me if I make mistakes! What? Because I'm the Slayer, I'm not allowed to? Everyone else who's my age is making mistakes! Why can't I? Why can't I make mistakes when something like this is thrown in my face?"

Cordelia's face reflected far too much sympathy.

"You know...Buffy was like you."

I huffed and got to my feet.

"I don't want to hear more stories about the blonde bitch," I muttered.

"Oh, she really was like you," said Cordelia, a little surprised.

"I don't wanna know!" I snapped. "I'm doing this. So deal with it."

With that, I stormed out of the hotel and towards my bike, where Connor was tossing a helmet around. Helmet? I never wore a helmet. Where did he get one?

"I know I can't stop you," he said, "and I think I'm probably the only person here who's actually going to see eye to eye with you on this. I don't blame you, really. You miss her. I know you do. But uh...if you're gonna do this, you should probably wear a helmet."

He tossed it to me.

"I can't help you," he said. "You know I can't, but I know that he's planning for you like you're one the bad guys, which to him I guess you are this time. So good luck. I guess I'll see you there."

I looked down at the helmet.

"Thanks," I muttered.

"I understand Mirany. So I really hope that this works out for you, and that Wolfram and Hart don't screw you over."

"You- you think I can do it?"

"What sort of best friend would I be otherwise?" he asked. "Say hi to Kegan for me."

"You think I'm trouble, she's worse," I said fervently.

"Well, where's the fun otherwise?" asked Connor, smiling roguishly.

"Not judging," I muttered. "Not allowed to."

...

_"Mirany, I'm only going to ask you one more time-"_

"Well good. Then I only have to disappoint you one more time," I snapped at my phone.

I was so sick of it. Angel and Wesley and Cordelia...they could all go to hell. Why didn't any of them understand? How could Connor, with no more experience than me, understand, yet they couldn't see past their own clouded judgement? To hell with 'em. I could do this without Angel. It wasn't as if I was hopeless unless he was around.

_"Mirany, you're making a huge mistake."_

"Good! Fantastic! I finally get to make a mistake without your _advice_..." I snarled the word, "to guide me every fucking step of the way."

_"Mirany, I'm trying to help you. I get it. You want your sister back. This...doing this...there's going to be consequences!"_

"Bring 'em on! I'm sick of the whole 'I've got enough money to get out of reaping the consequences'. So I am perfectly happy to look Lindsay in the eye and say 'where do I sign?' Don't you get it? This isn't just about Lilah. It was...to begin with. But now it's about doing something without your help. And personally, I think it's about time I stuck it to you."

_"Haven't you been doing that for four years?"_ Angel asked wearily.

"You know what? You're right. I haven't been very easy to deal with for a long time, so let me make this easy for you. I'm doing this. You can try to stop me, but you won't. And when it's all said and done, I will pay the price. Willingly. And I will probably come back and say that you were right, and that I was stupid not to listen to you. But if I don't do this, how am I supposed to learn that your advice actually is worth following?"

_"Well, you are kind of supposed to know that after 300 years of experi-"_

"Angel! I've been blindly following your 300 year old advice since I met you. Not always willingly mind you, but I have always done what you suggested. I've stayed in the kiddie pool. Until now. Now I wanna cannon-ball into the deep end. So let me make this mistake, so that you can later say 'I told you so', okay?"

_"Mirany, I can't just let you-"_

"I know, I know. You're going to try to stop me, because that's what you have to do. But if you don't...will it really be the end of the world?"

_"Well we are dealing with Wolfram and Hart so...very possibly, yeah."_

I rolled my eyes.

"See you tonight lover," I muttered, hanging up. "...I think I just won that argument."

"Well done."

I jumped from my chair, startled.

"Kegan! I'd like to not have a heart attack before I'm fifty!" I said indignantly, glaring at the half demon.

"I'm sorry, should I yodel my way into the room next time?" asked Kegan sarcastically.

"It'd make a change from silent and deadly," I mumbled darkly.

"What can I say? I've had practice."

"Can you practice _not_ trying to kill people now?" I asked.

"Eh, sounds boring," said Kegan, brushing the comment aside. "So Slayer. Ready to pull out the old thieves kit?"

"What do I need a thieves kit for? I'm kinda trying to do the opposite of stealing."

"Ah, so young, so ignorant," Kegan reminisced. "You're not _exactly_ going to help to people delivering the package. You're going to do it yourself."

"Wait...so I'm gonna..."

"That's right. You're gonna hijack the car," said Kegan, grinning. "I can already see Angel's face when he tries ambush the thing only to find that you've driven it away from the secret Wolfram and Hart route."

"Kegan," I said, placing my hands on her shoulders, "I have misjudged our ability to be awesome together."

"I wouldn't count my chickens just yet if I were you," said Kegan, smirking.

...

"Man, he's going to be so pissed when we're late," one of the men growled as they closed the trunk of the car, concealing whatever object they had just placed inside. "Get in, let's go."

"We're gonna lose them," I hissed to Kegan.

"Give them a second."

"Ah damn it! Where are the keys?" the man demanded of his colleague.

"I don't know! I thought you had them!"

"God damn it!"

The two of them stomped back towards the building they had come from, the taller and louder of the two complaining about the lashing they would get when they turned up late to Wolfram and Hart.

"And now we go," said Kegan, pushing me towards the car.

"I'm not entirely sure I'm comfortable with this," I muttered as we hurried towards the car. "I mean, I know I'm probably already breaking the law by helping Wolfram and Hart, but do I really have to steal their car as well?"

"Do you have a better way of getting it there without running into Angel?"

"...No," I conceded, scowling.

"Then hurry up and get in the car already," said Kegan, jimmying the door in less than a second.

"Okay, that is uncanny," I said fervently. "What are you? Some sort of master thief?"

"You can ask your sister that question once we're done," said Kegan, all but throwing me into the car. "For now...drive the damn car."

I fiddled with the wires under the wheel, the pressure of stealing the car before the big burly guys with guns came back taking it's toll, making me fumble. Kegan sighed.

"Breathe," she instructed. "Remember who you're doing this for."

I nodded and took a shaky breath before reaching underneath the wheel again.

"Oh, and I do hate to rush you, but they are coming back," Kegan warned.

I hurriedly began shifting the wires aside, before finding the wires I needed. Stripping them haphazardly, I touched them together. The car didn't even make a sound.

"HEY!"

"Guns, wolfy, guns."

"The damn thing won't-"

Just as I heard the warning shot go off, the car revved into life. Slamming my foot on the accelerator, we shot forward, away from the deadly duo.

"Next time...can't we just steal the keys?" I asked.

Kegan smirked and pulled a set of keys out of her pocket.

"You know when I told you to wait there while I checked that the coast was clear?"

I glared at her.

"I hate you sometimes."

...

"Your work has been...appreciated, if a little...unwarranted," said Lindsay, smirking at me. "Still, a deal is a deal. How did you get by Angel I must ask?"

"I'm skilled," I said simply. Kegan cleared her throat and I rolled my eyes. "We both are."

"Hm, you don't want me to know," said Lindsay. "Fair enough. This was a once only kind of deal after all. And we all know you still hate me. Still, I think you should call home. Check in. Your sister might be worried about you."

He turned and began to walk back into the building.

"Hey! What about the package?" I snapped.

"Oh of course. I almost forgot."

Lindsay turned to watch me intently.

"You know, I only agreed to this clause so that I could see the look on your face," he said. "Show her."

The trunk of the car was opened and a man in a suit leaned in and straightened up again, a small...female...familiar figure in his arms.

"T-Toni?"

Kegan immediately grabbed hold of my arm.

"Toni?" I asked again, my voice cracking.

What had I done? Had I really just...?

"No," I muttered. "No."

"It was a pleasure doing business with you," said Lindsay, the sadistic gleam all Wolfram and Hart lawyers seemed to possess twinkling in his eyes as he turned away.

I made a grab for him, but Kegan pulled me back.

"Don't be stupid," she whispered in my ear, not that it had any effect. I was furious. At myself. At Lindsay.

"Why?" I yelled at Lindsay. "Why her?!"

"Because you stupid little girl," Lindsay said, turning back to me, now looking annoyed and harassed, "she has your old soul. In return for the soul of your close sibling, it was the best match. Not to mention the potential that Toni could have. She's connected to both you and Angel. What fun times she and I are about to have together."

"Leave her alone!" I snapped.

"Goodbye Miss Hunter."

I snarled and wrenched myself from Kegan's grasp, diving at Lindsay.

"Mirany!"

Kegan leapt forward and grabbed me around the waist, hauling me off the now bleeding, yet chuckling lawyer.

"Go back to your money Mirany. It's only power you have in this world," he said, dabbing at his slightly crooked nose with a handkerchief as the man behind him carried Toni's unconscious body inside.

I struggled against Kegan, but the woman had gone into demon mode now, and she dragged me away as if it were nothing.

"Make no mistake Lindsay McDonald! I will kill you!" I snarled.

"Good luck," Lindsay sang as he left the car park.

...

"Lilah."

The woman looked around at me.

"Mirany, you have no idea how grateful I am that I'm not still floating around in Wolfram and Hart's soul vault but...whose soul did you sell to do this?"

"Good to...see you to," I sighed, flopping down on the couch next to her. "Really good."

"I'm glad to see you too," said Kegan.

"I don't even want to know why you're here," said Lilah coolly. "Do you mind if I talk to Mirany alone?"

Kegan smirked.

"I'll leave you to it then."

Lilah waited until Kegan slunk out of the room before embracing me gently.

"Who was it Mirany? You don't have any family left so...you reconnected with your old soul."

"Toni Overwood," I said blankly. I was tired. I was upset. I couldn't deal with what I had just done. So... "I need a drink."

Lilah watched me as I moved over to the liquor cabinet and poured a very large glass of very old whiskey.

"What are you gonna do?"

I turned back to her and took a sip of the drink.

"Drink," I said simply. "And then...I'm going to do what Lindsay told me. I'm gonna go back to my money. My power. And I'm gonna tear him apart. And then I'm gonna tear Saria apart. And then..."

"You."

"It's my fault Lilah. And...and I know it. And now I have to take responsibility for it."

"You couldn't have known Mirany."

"I knew," I said, taking another sip. "Not exactly, but I knew. I knew it would be bad. And I knew I'd regret it but... Angel was right. I acted selfishly. And now I have to pay the price."

"Well then..."

Lilah got up and steered my back over to the couch.

"...it sounds to me like you're going to need a plan. And it just so happens that I have some free time in my schedule to help with that."

I smiled.

"I'm glad you're back Lilah," I said. "Really, really glad."

"So am I."

**TO BE CONTINUED...**


End file.
